Enter the Light
by Anatonia Barcelona
Summary: HIATUS! An edgy Atlanta dancer finds out that she's a Xiaolin dragon. What will she think of her new life? Will she be able to adjust? Will she ever control that nasty temper of hers? Find out in this comedic adventure.
1. A New Dragon

**Ana: Hello there. I am Anatonia Barcelona, but you can call me Ana, -smile- Now let's start the story, shall we? Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**

Chapter 1: A New Dragon

It was a chilly fall day in Atlanta, Georgia. Cross Keys High School was letting out for the day, the students were making their way across the schoolyard. The scene was very lively, the students flitting around and chatting excitably with each other about the latest trends and hottest celebrities. However, their socializing abruptly ceased as one student walked out of the school building. They all grew quiet, staring at the young Chinese girl walking out of the double doors.

She had pale skin that looked almost as if it had never been touched by any sunlight. Large, almond shaped lilac eyes peered from under a black hat with the letters ATL in silver letters and the bill angled slightly over her right side. Waves of ebony hair spilled out from under it, the locks going down to her hips. The front portion of it was dyed orange. Her gloved hands were stuffed into the pockets of her black leather trench coat. She quickly walked down the sidewalk as the whispers and heckling giggles of her peers were heard, hoping to just get home without conflict this day.

Unfortunately for her, fate felt like spitting upon her, as per the usual. "Yo, Pinkeye!" a boy called out to her from behind. She frowned and ignored his call, holding her head high and continuing to walk. "Ahn-Li Nguyen! I'm talkin' to you!"

The girl, Ahn-Li, stopped and whipped around, eyes alight with irritation. "Do you mind, Ricky?" she asked heatedly. Surprisingly, her accent had a hint of the South in it. "Unlike you, I've got things to do."

Ricky put a hand over his heart and took a step back, acting as though he had just been shot. "Harsh. And here I was gettin' ready to compliment you."

Ahn-Li raised an eyebrow at Ricky. "Really, now…?"

"Martial arts." The mention of that piqued her interest a little bit, but not enough to erase her suspicion. Her hands went to her hips. "I mean, how could some little shrimp like you be so tough?" he said mockingly.

"Tch…" Ahn-Li rolled her eyes and began walking off, "Isn't it time you got a life?"

Ricky watched her walked away with a frown. He hadn't gotten the desired reaction at all. "You know…" He smirked, forcing out a laugh. "It's also weird how some _freak_ like you can strut like she's actually _someone_."

She stopped dead in her tracks as the crowd of students fell dead silent. She turned her head to him, her lilac eyes showing pure fury. She crossed one foot over the other, using that to pivot herself around as she took her hands out of her pockets.

Her messenger bag slid from her shoulder and fell to the ground with a quiet _plop_. She began taking dangerous steps towards him, cracking the knuckles on one hand. "See, I've been trying so hard to keep out of fights lately." That wasn't entirely true; she'd just gotten back from a two week suspension for that very reason. In total contrast to her scorching eyes, there was a delicate smile forming on her face as she reached Ricky, cracking the other hand. "Then, you had to go and piss me off…"

Her hand curled into his fist and she tucked it back, putting all of her power into it as she thrust it forward. When her fist was almost at his face, a yellow spark suddenly emitted from her hand, striking the boy so hard that it sent him flying across the schoolyard. The students started chattering again. Some with seriousness. Some with worry.

After a few moments of staring at her hand, Ahn-Li picked up her bag and dashed out to the streets. She traveled about four blocks and then jumped over the white fence in front of her house. It was a white, two-story structure, a large arch-shaped overhang covering the cherry wood door. A light blue railing traced around the rectangular deck, complete with a porch swing fit for four hanging from the roof.

Ahn-Li ran up the cobblestone walkway, jumping onto the porch and flying through the front door. "Mama! Papa!" She threw her bag from her shoulder, running through the hallway, "Nai-Nai! _Nai-Nai_! Are y'all even home?'

A short woman with wisdom lines in her face-in other words, wrinkles-in a black turtleneck sweater and pants, Ahn-Li's grandmother, came from around the corner, her grey hair tied pulled into a bun. She waved a red silk fan with a golden dragon sewn into it over her face. "Must you always be so loud, child?" She asked with a kind smile, grabbing Ahn-Li by the hand. "Come, Yue. We have a guest. Oh!" She stopped her and then reached down to untie her shoes. "Shoes, dear."

Ahn-Li let out an exasperated sigh, stepping out of her shoes. "But, Nai-Nai, this is important!" She protested as she was dragged towards the living room. "Okay, so at school, Ricky was making fun of me again. I may have lost control of my temper and was about to punch him, right?"

"Yes." The aged woman sat Ahn-Li down on the leather couch and sat down in the chair beside her. "And?"

She sat on her knees to face her grandmother and continued to speak. "When I was about to hit him, this weird yellow…_sparky thing_ came out of my hand! I don't know what it was!"

"It was an elemental attack." said a calm voice from beside her.

Ahn-Li up and saw an elderly man in blue and white robes with a black mustache and beard and kind blue eyes sitting across the table from her. Master Fung. Sitting beside her on the couch was her younger sister, a peach skinned girl with black pigtails wearing a school uniform. Judging by the frown on her rosy lips, she was far from pleased right now. Across from her, on the sofa next to Master Fung, were her parents. The mother was an adult version of her youngest daughter, only her hair was cut to her shoulders and she wore a light blue Chinese dress. The father had short hair and round spectacles pushed onto his nose. He was dressed in a crisp black business suit, looking as though he had just come from work.

Ahn-Li blinked, looking from person to person to person. "What the—? How'd I end up in the—?" she stammered then looked at the elderly man, going silent for a moment. She scrutinized him, her eyebrows pushing together. "Who're you?"

"My name is Master Fung." he answered, bowing his head to her, "It's nice to finally meet you, Ahn-Li."

Ahn-Li's already large eyes got even wider. "Why do you know my name?"

"Jeez, Li-Ahn." Her sister said, "Why do you have to ask so many questions? By the way, it's impolite not to take off your coat when you enter the house."

Ahn-Li glared at her, sucking her teeth. "It's more impolite to speak when no one was talking to you, Jing."

Jing rolled her eyes and put up her palm facing Ahn-Li. "This is America, Li-Ahn. Freedom of speech."

"Shut up, ya sassy-mouthed little twerp!" she snapped as she put the smaller girl in a headlock.

"AAH!" the younger girl whined as her sister gave her a noogie, "Li-Ahn is a meanie! Mama make her stop!"

"Take it like a man, squirt!"

"But I'm a twelve-year-old girl!"

"Irrelevant!"

"_Chénmò_! _N__ǐ__men li__ǎ_!" Their mother shouted, causing both the girls to freeze.

Their mother was not one to yell, which meant it was bad news when she actually did. Ahn-Li clicked her tongue, looking down at Jing. "Way to go, squirt… You made Mama mad again."

"Me? You're the one who's got me in a headlock!" Jing snapped.

"Stop it, you two!" She yelled again before they could start arguing again. "The outcome of this situation is important to Ahn-Li's future!"

Ahn-Li stopped to look at the serious faces around her. "My future?" Her grip loosened on her little sister. "What about my future?"

"Wen." said the woman's husband, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We should tell her everything."

She scanned the room. Her usually easy-going family was suddenly so serious and it was unbearably discomforting. Even Jing was silent for once in her life. "What's going on here?"

"So many questions. The young mind is truly a joy." Master Fung smiled at her, putting his hands inside the sleeves of his robe. Ahn-Li, have you ever considered yourself to be a bit different from the people around you?"

"Well… I kinda _am_ different." she said, gesturing to her body.

"I did not only mean physically." he told her.

The girl tilted her head to the side in slight confusion. Wen cleared her throat to get her daughter's attention, a nervous smile on her face. "Ahn-Li, remember how I said my family's dragon trait skipped both of our generations?" she asked. Ahn-Li nodded. The older woman chuckled lightly but nervously, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "Well, it actually… _didn't_ skip you. Not completely at least."

Ahn-Li's eyes widened. "Mama said what?" she exclaimed in a sudden hip-hop colloquialism, frantically rolling up her sleeves to check for scales.

Her grandmother put a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, child. You aren't that sort of dragon." she turned to Master Fung, "Am I correct?"

He nodded, "That you are, Yang- Li." He turned back to Ahn-Li, "Ahn-Li, you are what they call a Dragon of the Elements. In China, I am already training four other Dragons of the Xiaolin Order, Water, Fire, the Earth and the Wind. You, dear girl, are the next Dragon. The Dragon of Light. When the balance of this world is shaken, it is the duty of the Xiaolin Dragons to defend the world—"

"And restore the delicate balance before it's destroyed." Everyone's attention was on Ahn-Li now as she finished his sentence. "The Tale of the Xiaolin Dragons…" The pale girl breathed as she turned to Yang-Li, who was smiling casually, waving the fan over her face again. "Nai-Nai, my bed time story—"

Yang-Li smiled. "Some stories aren't just stories, Yue."

"Ahn-Li." Master Fung said, calling her attention back to him, "This is not mere coincidence. You may not have realized it, but, you were always destined to be the Dragon of Light. I would be pleased to have you come to the Xiaolin Temple and hone your skills."

She looked to her mother and father, her eyes pleading for help, "Mama? Papa?"

Her parents exchanged a glance with each other and her mother looked down at her hands. "Master Fung is right." Her usually over-protective father agreed.

"Papa!" She exclaimed with her hands curling into claws, shocked at his quick response. "Hell, could you have answered any quicker?"

Yang-Li's fan suddenly snapped shut and flew into Ahn-Li's forehead with a loud _thwack!_. Ahn-Li yelped, covering her forehead as her grandmother gave her a steely look that could have very easily had the potential to kill. "Mind your tongue, Yue." Yang-Li never liked it when Ahn-Li swore. She felt it was unbecoming of a young lady and yet another reason they should have stayed in China.

Cheng's hand went to the back of his neck, rubbing it as he went on to explain himself further. "I'm not saying that I want you to go, honey. I really don't." He said with a wry smile. "But you might have a better chance in dealing with this there, with others who share the same traits." He defended himself.

She stood up, her eyes now carrying a hint of anger in them. "But what if I don't want to go, Papa? Huh?" She asked bitterly, placing her hands on the table. "I just want to have a normal life! Having this Albino gene from _your_ side of the family is bad enough, having powers isn't going to make it any—"

Suddenly a pulse passed through the table and a bolt struck up beneath a teacup, sending it into the air. As it came down, Master Fung caught it on his index finger, every last drop of the liquid falling right back into the cup. "… Better…" She whispered the last word, staring at her hand.

"Nice reflexes!" Jing complimented Master Fung, clapping enthusiastically.

Ahn-Li looked to her parents for support once again, hoping to receive more than just a "you should do it". Their eyes bore into hers. Prompting. Anticipating. She knew exactly what they wanted her to say, but she also knew that she wasn't ready to give an answer just yet. In actuality, she wasn't sure if she would ever be.

She turned back to Master Fung. "Master Fung, can I think it over awhile, please?"

"You may." He nodded. "I would also like to talk privately with your family."

Ahn-Li stood up and walked for the stairs. She turned around and bowed before proceeding up the stairs. Despite her demeanor, respecting her elders was natural to her, as it was drilled in since birth. She turned a corner upon reaching the top step and walked into her room, which was fairly large. It was decorated with dance posters, karate belts and shining medals and trophies from various contests. One of the walls was a large mirror with a ballet barre attached to it, by her mother's request. She untied the sash on her trench coat and tossed it over the foot board of her bed, walking over to the mirror. Sighing, she placed her hands on the barre.

_Why me?_She asked herself, staring at her reflection as she did a plié. _I'm sixteen, almost seventeen. I'm supposed to be getting zits, but noooo. I had to be a late-blooming dragon!_She groaned and did a relevé, lifting a leg up onto the barre and leaning over to stretch it._New York is one thing, but I don't want to move to another continent, not without my family… Away from Mama and Papa and Nai-Nai… Plus, I don't even know_ how_to be a Dragon._

She did the same thing with her other leg. _But, then again, maybe I should go. I mean, I don't have much else here. If I'm lucky, I could even make friends with the others. But I don't know…_

She stopped mid-thought, looking towards her door. _I wonder what they're saying down there._

Ahn-Li brought her leg back down again and dusted her pants off, walking out of her room. She crept towards the stairs and was careful not to step on the squeaky floor boards. She was used to sneaking around the house like this to sneak out to the dance studio at night.

She soon reached the stairs, hearing the faint voices of Master Fung and her family as they conversed. Quietly, she crept down the stairs, sitting down on the stair at the point where the wall and the banister met. She had used this spot many times before, usually when her principal or her counselor came to report on her. Her father was speaking at the moment.

Cheng's eyebrows had pushed together and his arms were folded tightly over his chest. He was not particularly angry, but that didn't exactly mean that he was happy. His teeth ground together and his jaw was set as he looked over at Yang-Li. "Mother, I specifically remember you telling me that those stories you told Ahn-Li as a child were just that. _Stories_." He growled at her.

"No, I said that there was no harm in telling her those stories, Cheng." His mother said calmly, waving the fan over her face daintily. "I knew who she was destined to be from the very beginning. And you should have, too, considering yours and your wife's ancestries. It's in her blood."

She fanned herself slower and flipped it to the dragon side, gazing down at it a moment before looking back up at her son. "However, I know that she'll now appreciate those stories and treasure them even more than she already does." She looked sharply at her son. "And _you_ should also appreciate my teaching her Kung Fu and much of the ancient ways at such an early age."

"That is true." Wen agreed, putting a finger to her chin as she found a silver lining. "Plus, sending her to the temple seems like it would be good for her. You know, having her be around other dragons."

Jing's head tilted to the side slightly. "Jake and Haley and Grandpa are all dragons." she pointed out, "She's with dragons all the time, so what's the big deal on sending her all the way to China?"

"Aside from the fact that her training would take place there, it would be for her own safety." Master Fung pointed out, causing everyone's heads to snap towards him. He let out a light sigh, looking into his tea. "There are many enemies of the Xiaolin Order. There will always be someone who wishes to keep the number of Dragons from increasing. By whatever means necessary." He looked up at them, his eyes reflecting a hint of worry. "If you were to keep her here, you all would be in danger as well."

Cheng went wide-eyed and Wen gasped. Ahn-Li's heart skipped a painful beat. _Mama, Papa, Jing and Nai-Nai… They could get hurt cause of me…?_ She thought, putting a hand over her heart in an attempt to relax it.

Jing shrugged. "I say let Li-Ahn go." She said, leaning back into the couch. "If it'll get her out of the house I'm all for it."

A large vein throbbed on the side of Ahn-Li's head as it usually did when she was mad. _Why, that little…! And I was worried about her!_

"Jing!" her parents scolded her as Yang-Li bit back a giggle.

"What?" she asked innocently, blinking at them as if she were clueless to what she had just said. "I'm just putting in my two-cents, is all. She wanted to go back to China, anyways."

Yang-Li put her hand up to quiet the discussion. "Before we decide on anything, we should hear what _she_ wants to do." She smiled and tilted her head towards the stairs. "Isn't that right, Yue?"

The rest of the Nguyen family and Master Fung turned to the stairs as Ahn-Li reached the last one. She walked over to the rest of the group, taking her usual position in her grandmother's lap and leaning against her shoulder. Yang-Li smiled at her, reaching up to pat her head. "So, what is your decision, Yue?" she asked.

Ahn-Li sighed. "Well…" She began, folding her arms over her chest. "Seeing as I would be hunted down and y'all would be in danger, too, I guess I'll go."

"You're sure about this?" Cheng asked her, his overprotective demeanor showing itself as he stared at her with sad eyes. "This is a big step. You don't have to go."

"Mm-hmm. Plus, staying here would kind of be pointless after today, y'know? So, yeah…"

Master Fung pushed himself to his feet. "I'm pleased to hear you will be joining us Ahn-Li. When is the most convenient time for you to come?"

"Hm…" she put a finger to her chin, "It's Tuesday, so I guess Saturday would be best. You know, to get things cleared up at school and everything…"

The old monk smiled kindly at her. "Excellent." He bowed to the family and then headed for the door. "I will see you in a few days."

Ahn-Li bowed in return, then straightened up and waved to him as he walked out. "Later, Master Fung."

The following day, Ahn-Li went back to Cross Keys to speak to Mr. Ronaldo, the school principal. Rather than telling every last detail of her new situation, she simply said that she was going to a private boarding school in Hong Kong. She also brought a note from home, one reluctantly written by her father.

Mr. Ronaldo was a very understanding man despite the fact that this girl was sent to his office just about every other week, twice on a bad week. Which occurred almost twice as often as a good week. nodded his head and set the note on his desk after reading it. "So, you really are leaving, huh?"

"Yes, sir." She said.

He smiled at her. "I, for one, am going to miss you." He said, standing up, "But I hope that you will try to make this experience a positive one, Ahn-Li."

He held his hand out to her for a shake, but the girl kept a tight grip on her hands as she stood. She stared at his hand, fearing that the close contact with her unpredictable new powers would be a disastrous combination. She simply waved, shuffling out the door. "Oh, and Ahn-Li." He called to her.

She was already in the hallway and poked her head back into the room. "Yeah?"

"Try not to get into any fights at this school." He advised her with a grin.

A smile of pure amusement at the irony of this situation graced her face and she even giggled a little. "Mm-hmm." was her only response.

Ahn-Li was actually going to miss the principal too. Because of her short temper, she often got into fist fights, which resulted in being sent to the principal's office. Unlike other principals, though, he never just gave her detention and only suspended her for a week when she did something really terrible. He actually took the time to reach out to her and talk to her over a game of Chinese Checkers or Sorry!. By the time she left, she wouldn't even remember why she had been angry in the first place. Honestly, saying goodbye hurt a little more than she thought.

[~*:^:*~]

Ahn-Li did not attend school for the rest of the week, putting all of her time into getting ready for the big day. Saturday.

Friday evening fell upon them quickly. At the Atlanta airport, Ahn-Li was sitting with her parents, anxiously fiddling with the sash of her trench coat as she waited for her flight. "Would rows G through K on Flight 721 to Hong Kong please begin to board the plane now." said a voice over the airport intercom.

Ahn-Li and her parents stood up as her section was called. She walked towards the gate, then quickly turned around and ran back to her parents, hugging her father. "Bye, Papa." She said.

Cheng smiled, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "You'll do just fine, kiddo." he assured her.

Ahn-Li moved to her mother, holding her tight. She actually looked close to tears. "Bye, Mama."

Wen smiled, gently rocking her daughter as they stood. She then pushed her orange bangs from her face and tucked them behind her ear. "Just remember to always do your best… And to keep that right hook, okay, sweetie?"

Ahn-Li nodded, wiping her eyes. "Alright, Mama."

"That's my tough girl." She kissed her forehead and turned her around, nudging her towards the gate. "Now, go on."

Halfway to the gate, she turned around again. "You'll tell Jake, right?" she asked hopefully.

Cheng nodded with a laugh, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders. "Don't worry, we will."

Ahn-Li showed her ticket to the woman at the gate, and then walked through the long hallway to the plane. She took her seat by the window, looking out of it. She saw her parents standing in the large airport window, staring at the plane. She knew they couldn't see her, but she waved to them anyways. "Zai jian, Mama and Papa…" She murmured.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said the pilot, "We're about to take off. Please fasten your seat belts."

Ahn-Li followed the command. As the plane rose into the air, she began to fall asleep. It was the type of peaceful, dreamless sleep that had eluded her for a majority of the week. She had been up almost every night this whole week, so anxious about the trip she would have to train herself to sleep. She was grateful for this nap more than anything.

When her eyes opened, people were already getting off of the plane. She got up and walked off of the plane then to the baggage claim. After retrieving her suitcase she headed for the exit.

Ahn-Li waited outside the airport and she was getting really bored. She then noticed that she was baking in her coat. She untied the sash and slid it off her shoulders, revealing a tight blue tank top cutting off above her navel and dark blue jeans, white Air Forces on her feet. "I forgot, this is the other side of the world." She said to herself, draping the coat over her arm. She sat down on her suitcase and listened to her MP3 player, her head bobbing and her foot tapping to the music.

"Pardon me, young lady." someone said, tapping her on the shoulder.

Ahn-Li looked up and saw the four Xiaolin monks, unaware of who they were, but acknowledging that they were a strange bunch.

A tall, buff blond wearing a cowboy hat, only one blue eye visible beneath his hair. A lean-looking Brazilian with emerald green eyes who, in the back of her mind, she thought was kind of cute. A pint-sized kid wearing traditional robes and had… yellow skin? And she thought she was strange. And a petite Japanese girl, from what she could tell, with lavender hair in pigtails and what looked like a green, lizard wrapped around her shoulders. "Hey." She greeted them, pulling the earphones out and letting them hang on her shoulders. "Can I help you guys?"

"Yeah," Raimundo said, looking down at a small piece of paper, "We're looking for someone named Ahn-Li Nguyen."

"Do you know her?" Kimiko asked hopefully.

"That's me. Ahn-Li." They all went silent, only staring at her. She frowned. "Alright, what's with the weird faces?"

"From yer name, we were thinkin' you'd be…" Clay looked her up and down. "More Chinese-ish." he admitted.

"I _am_, but I was born here in China, but raised in Atlanta, Georgia since I was five. Didn't you see the hat? It's right there." she told them, pointing at her hat. The monks still looked confused. She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Okay, let's take a step backwards." She was instantly smiling. "Hi there, I'm Ahn-Li Jia Nuan Shi Ming Nguyen, the new Dragon." She bowed her head and then looked back up at them. "And y'all are?"

"You must be your parents' first child." Kimiko said, grinning at her introduction as she stepped forward, pointing at herself. "I'm Kimiko Tohomiko, the Dragon of Fire."

She was actually relieved that there was another girl and waved. "Hi."

Clay was the next to introduce himself, tipping his hat to her. "How do ya do? My name's Clay Bailey and I'm the Dragon of the Earth."

Ahn-Li inwardly rejoiced when she heard Clay's Southern accent, feeling even more at ease because it reminded her of home. "Nice to meet you."

Omi stepped forward with a smug smile on his face. "I am Omi, the mighty Xiaolin Dragon of Water." He said proudly.

Ahn-Li giggled as she looked down at him. "Hey, there."

Raimundo pressed his hand into Omi's head to keep him, and his ego, grounded. "And I'm Raimundo Pedrosa, the Dragon of the Wind and the Leader of the Dragons."

"Really?" She bowed to him quickly in respect to him. "Nice to meet you."

They all suddenly became very quiet, the shuffling of feet and the honking of cars the only sound around them. Ahn-Li cleared her throat, also clearing away the awkward silence. "Sooo, Master Fung said y'all were going to take me to the Temple. But how are we getting there?"

"We're gonna fly Air Dojo, of course." Clay answered.

Ahn-Li's head tilted to the side in confusion until she saw Clay pointing at Dojo. She bent down to look at the little lizard-like creature and then busted out laughing. "You guys are funny. You can't expect me to believe we're getting out of here on the back of a gecko are you?" she asked between giggles. "Seriously, how're we getting there?"

Dojo growled at her, his eyes narrowing. "Look here, sister, I am _not_ a gecko!" he retorted, pointing a claw at her.

Ahn-Li shrieked, jumping back a couple of paces, pointing at Dojo, obviously frazzled. "He talked!" she exclaimed, looking at the others for support. "That gecko just talked!"

Dojo gave the monks a look that clearly expressed his displeasure and then turned into a full-sized dragon in front of her. Her laughter ceased quickly and her jaw dropped. "I'm not a gecko! I'm a dragon!" he roared, looking her dead in the face.

"Alright, alright!" she put her hands in front of her defensively, "You're a dragon! My bad!"

_Who knew there was so many types of dragons in the world?_ she thought.

The four monks got on the dragon's back. Ahn-Li looked up to the sky with a nervous eye, biting her lower lip. "Are you alright, Nguyen Ahn-Li?" Omi asked her.

"Yeah. Never better…" Ahn-Li said nonchalantly, mounting Dojo behind Raimundo.

As soon as the dragon left the ground, Ahn-Li grabbed onto Raimundo as if her life depended on it. He flinched, slowly turning his head to look back at her "Um, Ahn-Li…?"

"I, uh… may have an acute fear of heights…" She looked down briefly and then her arms jumped around him again, her head buried in his back. "Okay, I'm really, _really_ scared of heights!"

"Don't worry, the first flight's always the scariest." Clay told her, looking back at her with a grin. "You get used to it in no time."

After a short flight through the sky, Dojo descended onto the grounds of the Xiaolin Temple with Master Fung waiting for them. Ahn-Li was still a little shaken by the fact that she just rode on a talking dragon's back. Master Fung walked over to them with his hands tucked behind his back, smiling down at Ahn-Li. "Ah, Ahn-Li. I'm glad you made it safely."

"Barely…" Ahn-Li replied, a bit dizzy.

"Turns out that the Light's terrified of heights." Clay said, jumping off of Dojo's back.

"I was not scared. Clinging to someone for dear life is a very formal greeting in China!" Ahn-Li snapped at him, swining her legs over Dojo's back. "Ack!"

As Ahn-Li was getting off the dragon's back, she lost her balance from a mixture of jet-lag and lack of acclimation, nearly falling. Clay caught her by the back of her shirt before ended up doing a face-plant. "Whoa! Good looking out, dude."

Master Fung pulled his hands from behind his back and handed her the folded robes of a Xiaolin monk. "Put these on, Ahn-Li. You will be wearing them when you are on the temple grounds." She unfolded the robes and looked at them, inwardly smiling at the color. "Kimiko." Master Fung called and she was soon beside Ahn-Li, "Will you show her to her new room?"

Kimiko smiled and nodded quickly. "Sure." She nudged Ahn-Li and started walking towards the temple, "Just follow me, Ahn-Li."

Ahn-Li looked back at the boys as she followed Kimiko, smiling sheepishly. "See y'all in a few."

Ahn-Li walked inside the temple leaving everyone else in the courtyard. "I still can't get over that girl saying 'y'all'." Raimundo commented, "It's like having another Clay around."

Secretly, though, he found the accent appealing on her.

"Rai, the girl's from Georgia." Clay reminded him with a hearty laugh, giving him a slap on the back. "You're gonna have to get used to it."

Inside the temple, Ahn-Li was still following Kimiko. She led her to the hallway in which the rooms were. Ahn-Li noted that they were separated by thin paper walls, much like the types she'd seen in the movies. Kimiko showed her an empty one at the end of the hallway, stepping aside to let her go in. "You can toss your stuff in here." She said with a smile. "It's gonna be nice having another girl around, you know?"

Ahn-Li couldn't help but smile back, finding this kindness refreshing compared to what she had endured at her school in Atlanta. "Thanks." She held the robes to her body. "I think I'll try these on now."

Kimiko nodded and began to leave, then stopped, looking back at Ahn-Li. "We'll be on the training grounds." Her smile expanded a little bit. "When you're done, come on out and we'll give you a tour."

Ahn-Li nodded enthusiastically, stepping into her room. "Thanks, Kimiko."

The raven haired girl left her and Ahn-Li began to switch outfits.

About half an hour passed since Kimiko had left Ahn-Li. The monks were on the training grounds, kicking Raimundo's soccer ball around. "It's been a while, Kimiko." Clay said, kicking the ball to her, "Where's the new girl?"

"I don't know." She answered, bouncing the ball a few times before passing it to Raimundo. "But she'll come."

Ahn-Li walked out to the training grounds of the temple and they noticed that she was still wearing her hat with the robes. Clay understood. What one wears is a key part of one's personality. "So, Nguyen Ahn-Li," Omi came running up to her. "How do you like the temple so far?"

"It's big. _Really_big." Ahn-Li replied, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "I just got lost coming over here."

Omi was bouncing up and down excitably, circling her as he did so. "Can we see your abilities? _Please_?"

"Um, sorry, little dude, but I have no control over them." She admitted, her eyes following Omi up and down and up and down as he pranced around her.

"You can't?" Clay asked, pressing his hand into top of Omi's head to hold him in place on the ground.

"Nope." Ahn-Li looked around the training grounds as she spoke. "Say I want to hit… that jar over there." She pointed at a glass jar across the way from them. "I don't know how I'm going to—"

Suddenly, a yellow bolt flew out of her finger, flying towards the jar. It bounced off of the jar and headed straight for the monks. "Hit the deck!" Ahn-Li shouted.

The monks ducked as the bolts zoomed past their heads and annihilated the training dummy. "You weren't kidding." Kimiko confirmed.

"Still, that's pretty cool. Hit me up high." Raimundo said, putting his hand up for a high five.

Ahn-Li was about to return it but ended up zapping Raimundo by mistake, sending him flying across the training grounds. "I'm sorry, like, so, so sorry!" She apologized, running to him and helping him up.

"No problem." He stood upright, cracking his neck, and then turned to his fellow monks. "So, how about that tour?"

"Please." Ahn-Li answered quickly, not wanting to get lost again.

**Ana: Well, that was the first chapter. Hope you liked it.**

**Rai: I didn't. How come I had to get zapped?**

**Ana: Simple. I don't like you.**

**Rai: That's harsh, Ana.**

**Ana: C'mon, boy you know I love you. As for everyone else, see you in Chapter 3. Peace out.**

**(1) Nai-Nai- Chinese for "Grandmother"**

**(2) Yue- "Moon", for Ahn-Li's pale skin**

**(3) Wen basically, told her daughters to shut up**


	2. Fighting Evil 101

**Ana: Yo! Ana here.**

**Rai: Don't forget about me. What's up everybody!**

**Ana: Oh yeah… he's here too. Please have fun reading the story and—**

**Rai: Don't read it! It's going to be terrible!**

**Ana: Thank you Mr. Supportive…**

**Rai: Any time :)**

**Ana: Boy, shut up! Anywho, enjoy. See ya later! Bye.**

**Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**

Chapter 2: Fighting Evil 101

Two days had passed since Ahn-Li arrived at the Xiaolin Temple. The young monks were just beginning to crawl out of bed, all except for Ahn-Li. She was passed out on her mat with the blanket weaving in between her limbs, her head turned to the side. Her body still trying to adjust to the major time change. Dojo slithered his way into her room, putting his claws on her back and shaking her. "Hey, Ahn-Li. Wake up!" Dojo said, attempting to wake her up.

"Ten more minutes, Papa…" the girl mumbled, pulling her pillow over her head and turning.

Dojo took out his little gong and began to bang it beside her head. "Come on, kiddo. Rise and shi…!" The only response he got from Ahn-Li was being grabbed by the neck and thrown out of the room to the other monks feet. The gong came out next, landing in his lap. "Sorta reminds me of the way Raimundo slept when he first came." He joked.

"I have the solution!" Omi said, his face brightening up. He went around the corner into Ahn-Li's room. "Wudai Neptune: Water!"

"AIYAAAAAA!" They flinched as they heard Ahn-Li shriek. "Omi…"

"It was the only way I could wake you up." Omi told her. "Wudai—"

"Gǔn chūqù!" she yelled in she and Omi's native tongue.

They heard a loud slapping sound and saw a blur of yellow, red and black fly out of Ahn-Li's room and slam face-first into the wall. Omi fell onto his back, his cheek a bright red. "I'm not certain, but I think she was upset." He said as he rubbed his swollen cheek.

"No, really. Omi?" Raimundo asked sarcastically.

Ahn-Li came out of her room with her body drenched from head to toe. The deep frown on her face showed that she was obviously unhappy about getting such a very rude, very wet awakening. Kimiko handed her a towel along with a sympathetic smile. "So, I guess you guys will give me a walk-through of this whole Xiaolin Dragon thing today." She said yawning and wringing her hair out into the towel. Suddenly everyone's stomach growled. "Preferably after breakfast thought… I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Clay agreed. Then again, Clay always agreed on food.

At breakfast, they were surprised to find out that for such a skinny girl, Ahn-Li could put away as much food as Clay. It was rather unexpected.

Afterwards, though, they led her to the Great Hall so they could give her the basic overview of what life would be like at the Xiaolin Temple. She sat down and rested her chin in the palm of her hand, looking at the others as they sat down in front of her. "Our mission here at the Xiaolin temple is to gather the Shen Gong Wu before the forces of darkness can get them first." Omi began.

"The Shen Gong Wu? As in the mystical power objects?" she questioned.

Omi cocked an eyebrow. "How do you know about the Shen Gong Wu?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well in my family, this stuff is kind of relative knowledge. Nai-Nai told me stories when I was little." She explained, rubbing the back of her neck. "She said that they were the power objects created by this guy named…um…Master Denshi…?"

"Dashi." Omi corrected her.

"Yeah, him." She said, snapping her fingers. "I always thought it was some old country myths… But that's not the case here, is it?"

"Nope." Kimiko said, shaking her head. "They're real all right. Some are dangerous, some are not so dangerous, but we don't really take any chances."

"Yeah. In the wrong hands, things can turn ugly." Raimundo added.

"So shouldn't y'all be telling me who would be considered the wrong hands?" Ahn-Li asked with a light smile. "It'd kind of make this job easier."

"All righty then." Clay said, leaning back on the steps behind him. "First off, we got Jack Spicer, so-called evil boy genius. He wants to get all the Wu to take over the world and stuff. He couldn't do it, though, even if we weren't stopping him. He builds a bunch of crazy machines that never work every now and again, too."

Omi was the next one to speak. "Next is the Heylin witch Wuya."

Ahn-Li nodded her head a moment, recognizing the name, but then she frowned. "But, wait, wasn't she was defeated by Grand Master Dashi, like, I dunno… Centuries ago?

Omi nodded his head. "Yes, Nguyen Ahn-Li, and sealed in a puzzle box, where she stayed for 1500 years. Jack Spicer foolishly let her out, though, and her spirit was released into the world again." he explained. "She was restored to human form by Raimundo when he turned to the Heylin side."

Ahn-Li looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged his shoulders. "Lapse in judgment." He said nonchalantly.

"She was swiftly defeated, though and returned to her spirit form." Omi continued, "She was restored to human form once again, but only makes an appearance for certain Shen Gong Wu, seeing as her full power has not been restored."

"These are your 'wrong hands'? A genius failure and a powerless witch? They seem like pushovers to me." Ahn-Li responded as she put her chin in her palm, looking bored again. "The job's sounding pretty easy so far."

"Trust me," Kimiko said, shaking her head with a frown. "It's not easy at all. Especially not with the next villain on our list."

"And that would be?"

The room grew quiet, a bit of suspense building. "Chase Young." they all replied after an extended pause.

Suddenly, Ahn-Li's lilac eyes lit up and she lifted her chin from her palm. Her mouth hung open for a moment and she couldn't find the words to speak. "_Chase Young_?" she asked at last, her voice going rising an octave with surprise. "As in _Prince of Darkness_, Chase Young?"

Dojo let out a little chuckle, a minor trace of amusement in his eyes. "He really does have a certain reputation."

"You know him?" Raimundo asked her, raising his eyebrow in suspicion.

"I…uh…I know _of_ him." She said, although the tone in which she said it gave the impression that she knew more than she was letting on. She put her thin finger to her chin, looking as if she were thinking. "Nai-Nai told me that he was one of the greatest warriors in all of China."

"He certainly lives up to the name. He also happens to be the most _dangerous_ warrior in all China." Clay said. "He doesn't go after Shen Gong Wu much, but when he does, he's a tough one to beat."

"Chase Young is the one who restored Wuya again and he nearly destroyed the world once." Omi went on.

"He's that bad?" Ahn-Li asked, finally showing some interest.

"Baddest of the bad." They all answered.

Ahn-Li urged them on with a flick of the wrist. "Continue. Please."

"The main thing you should know is to not get on his bad side." Kimiko told her. Then her head went to the side a bit, thinking. She flipped her hand through the air casually. "Well, you're a Dragon now, so, don't get on his _worse_ side."

"How come?"

Dojo slithered up to her, holding a flashlight under his chin to create a scary shadow over his face. "He'll transform into a dragon before your very eyes." he said, trying to sound spooky.

Ahn-Li's eyes dulled at that. "Tch… I'm definitely not afraid of dragons."

"You should be very afraid of this one." Omi answered, "That form only amplifies his power as a warrior."

"What happened to make him that way?" she wanted to know. Then her head tilted to the side a bit, continuing her little act. "Or was he born that way?"

Dojo threw his head back with a laugh. "Born a dragon!" He wiped a tear from his eye. "That's a good one, kid."

Ahn-Li pouted at his laugh; she knew her dragon stuff. Omi's head was hung as he went on with the explanation. "Chase Young used to be a Xiaolin warrior. One day, the _most_dangerous villain of all, Hannibal Roy Bean, an actual bean, convinced Chase that Master Monk Guan, his good friend, would betray him one day and convinced him to drink the Lao Mang Long soup, turning him into a Heylin warrior as well as a dragon. On that day, Hannibal Bean destroyed two fowls with a single rock."

"I think you mean two birds with one stone, Omi."

"Of course!" Omi chuckled. "Chase Young immediately sealed him up in the Yin Yang World afterwards."

Kimiko nodded her head. "Now Hannibal is running loose again because Jack, being the _genius_ that he is," she said with a roll of her eyes, "Set him free."

Clay raised one of his golden eyebrows, a little grin tugging at his lips. "Wasn't it _y'all _who set him free?" He asked.

Raimundo pointed a finger at him. "Hey, that was totally not our fault!"

Kimiko, again had to roll her eyes. "Alright, alright!" She shouted, shutting both him and Clay up so she could go on. "The point is Hannibal's out now. And Wuya works with him, too."

"So, wait." She looked up, putting pieces together. "Jack released Wuya, who was a spirit before our Leader restored her human form, but then you guys defeated her, then she was released again and left Jack for Chase because he restored her human form."

She took a breath. "Chase was once Xiaolin, but was turned to the Heylin side by Hannibal Bean, who got sealed up in the Yin Yang World, until he Jack released him." Clay shook his head and she snapped her fingers. "No, until _you guys_ released him." Clay nodded. "And Wuya left Chase to work with him and… Aiyaaaa." Ahn-Li put her forehead in her palm, a small headache developing. "This is a lot to dish out at once y'know. I'm sensing some brain overload."

"Hey, don't worry, You'll catch on in a little while." Raimundo said, slapping her on the back and making her gasp.

"The thing 'bout fighting evil is to expect the unexpected." Clay was explaining, "They're about as predictable as when a Shen Gong Wu goes active."

Speaking of the Shen Gong Wu devil, a loud crash was heard from the vault. Everyone looked up and ran, crawled in Dojo's case, to the vault. As everyone expected, there was Jack Spicer trying to steal their Wu yet again. "Jack Spicer! Put down the Wu and we will spare you a most humiliating defeat." Omi said as the five monks assumed fighting stances.

"Xiaolin losers, I—" His face distorted and he put his hands into a T shape. "Okay, time out! One, two, three, four…" Jack counted the present monks. "Wait a minute! There were _not_ five of you three days ago! Who's this girl?"

"The name's Ahn-Li Nguyen. Learn it. Know it. Fear it." She turned to Kimiko and whispered. "_This _is Spicer? He looks like a sissy to me. And is that make-up he's wearing?"

"I AM NOT A SISSY!" Jack whined, not really helping his case. Then he growled. "Jack-Bots attack!"

About fifteen of Jack's robots came out of various places; the Dragons stood their ground and prepared to attack. The robots, the monks and Jack began to face off for the Shen Gong Wu Jack was trying to steal. As the fight began, the winds shifted, a chill blowing through Ahn-Li's hair. She heard a light brush beneath her feet and looked down to see the leaves dancing around her on the ground. Then, they shifted directions, drawn to the area behind the vault; it was almost as if they were calling for her. After taking a moment to confirm that her fellow monks were busy, she followed the leaves with curiosity and caution.

She jumped behind the vault in her fighting stance. However, there was no one there for her to fight. Just bricks and dust and the leaves that had led her there. She shrugged her shoulders, turning around again. She couldn't help feeling that something wasn't right, though.

She was about to go back to fighting with her fellow Dragons when suddenly, a hand clamped over her wrist and yanked her back. She opened her mouth, ready to scream, but another hand covered her mouth. No one was able to hear her. After being pulled around the corner, Ahn-Li bumped her head and was about to yell at the person, but stopped when she saw who it was. Holding her by her wrist was a man with pale peach skin dressed in bronze armor, long black hair running down his back. A corner of his mouth went up in a smirk as his golden, reptilian eyes locked with her widening lilac orbs. Ahn-Li's mouth fell open with a light popping sound. "Crap."

"What's the matter?" Chase asked, chuckling darkly. "I figured you'd be happy to see me, Ahn-Li. Or should I say, _Miss Dragon of Light_?"

"Why in the hell would I be happy to see you?" she snapped, trying to free her wrist from his grip. "How'd you even know where I was? Freaking stalker-pedo…"

He tightened his grip on her wrist, pressing it into the wall. "I see you're still careless with your words."

She hissed at the pain. "What do you want?" she demanded through gritted teeth.

"The same thing as before, of course." He answered simply, lifting one eyebrow. "A year and a half is more than enough time to think it over, I believe…"

"Don't think just because we were out of contact, I'm going to change my mind." She tried to pull her wrist away again and flinched, as it only brought more pain. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You knew. You knew from the very beginning, didn't you?"

The smirk grew wider. "Possibly."

Ahn-Li again attempted to pull her wrist from his grip. "Let me go, or I'll make you."

He would have cackled at the feeble threat, but due to the nearby witnesses, he simply chuckled. "Bite me." He challenged her.

The lilac eyed girl glared at him for a moment, then put on a smirk of her own. She moved her head closer to his hand then opened her mouth wide and chomped down upon Chase's hand, making sure to get decent contact with her incisors. He instantly released his hold on her wrist and drew back, his eyes narrowing on her. "Savage…"

"Hey, it was your idea." Ahn-Li shot back, getting into her stance again. "Why don't we redo our last match?"

He smirked at the idea. "I was going easy on you last time." He warned her, getting into his own stance.

"Then don't hold back now."

"As you wish."

She was about to rush at him when the other Dragons began calling Ahn-Li. "Ahn-Li!"

"Nguyen Ahn-Li!"

"Where've ya gone, lil' lady?"

Chase and Ahn-Li both stopped. "Looks like we'll have to postpone this fight." Chase said.

"Looks like." Ahn-Li groaned, clicking her tongue.

"So, I will take my leave." Chase said, turning away from her and stepping out of the sunlight, into the large shadow created by the vault. He swiftly turned around again to look at her. "One day, you will come to the Heylin side and when that day comes, I'll be waiting." He took a few steps back with his signature smirk on his face. "Until we meet again, Miss Dragon of Light."

And with that, Chase disappeared into the shadows.

His words echoed through Ahn-Li's head, her lips tightening as she mulled them over. "_One day, you will come to the Heylin side and when that day comes, I'll be waiting…"_

"Snowball's chance in Hell, I will!" Ahn-Li shouted to the skies, knowing full well he could probably hear her, and then walked back to rejoin the other monks.

**Ana: Well, that was it. By the way, Ahn-Li yelled "GET OUT!" Hope you like it.**

**Rai: I hated it, and I'm sure everyone agrees with me.**

**Chase: (appears out of nowhere) Don't be so hard on her, that's**_**my**_**job.**

**Rai: AAAAAAH! What are you doing here!**

**Ana: I invited him, you dufus!**

**Chase: She was bored out of her skull, so she called me. (sits in a chair)**

**Rai: That's my seat.**

**Chase: You weren't in it.**

**Rai: I was going to be.**

**Chase: Maybe you want to settle this like men.**

**Rai: Bring it on Pretty Boy!**

**Ana: Review please! I have to keep these two from destroying my house. Hasta!**


	3. I Don't Lose!

**Ana: This is pathetic! I leave you two alone for ten minutes and you demolish my living room!**

**Chase: Rai started it!**

**Ana: Really, Chase? You're over 1500 years old and you blame this on... Oh, hi. I went out for a walk, left Chase in charge, and come home to a demolished living room! Honestly, I had higher standards for you people.**

**Rai: Pretty big talk for someone who's not even fifteen yet.**

**Chase: We're both older than you.**

**Ana: ANYWAY! Back to a more important matter. In this chapter, you'll learn about how Chase and Ahn-Li already know each other.**

**Chase: It's because...**

**Ana: SMACK! Don't give it away! Enjoy the story. I'll see ya later. As for you two...**

**Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**

Chapter 3: "I Don't Lose!"

Ahn-Li had just come back from her meeting with Chase Young, ignoring the dismantled machines littering the ground beneath her feet. Omi's face brightened when he saw her and he quickly ran to her. The other Dragons followed behind him. "Nguyen Ahn-Li!" The yellow monk cried as he reached her, "Where have you been?"

"Yeah, you missed an opportunity to beat up Jack." Raimundo said.

"You act like there won't be others." Kimiko giggled, giving Raimundo a light punch on the shoulder as they all laughed about it. Ahn-Li walked past them without saying a word. Kimiko's eyes lit up with concern and she swiftly caught up with the new Dragon. "Ahn-Li, what's up?" she asked.

Ahn-Li shook her head and a Sahara-dry laugh passed her lips. "Let's just say I had a little run-in with an old friend of mine…" she growled.

Kimiko's head titled to the side and she stopped, looking back at the boys. They shrugged their shoulders, also confused about what she meant. Clay was the one to ask the question, though. "Friend?"

Ahn-Li looked over her shoulder at them, a wry smile on her face. "A no-good snake-in-the-grass by the name of Chase Young." She spat, her Southern accent becoming a bit heavy.

The other monks went wide-eyed and the summer air around them seemed to grow cold. She, a girl from the complete opposite side of the globe, knew Chase Young, evil super villain? It was thought to be an impossibility, but her tone told them that it was, in fact, possible. That would explain her earlier interest in regards to him.

Ahn-Li sat in the mediation hall in the lotus pose, trying to clear her mind of the murderous thoughts that floated through it, even if it wasn't really working.

The Wudai Warriors were standing at the entrance, peeking in cautiously at her. Even though they were curious about the current situation, they couldn't bring themselves to ask about it. Honestly, they were kind of scared to. "So, uh…" Raimundo whispered, smiling nervously. "Who wants to try first?"

Clay shook his head, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down at Raimundo. "It ain't right, pryin' into her business and all." He scolded him. "If she wanted us to know, she woulda told us."

"But we're talking about Chase Young, here, Clay. You know, the guy that kidnapped Master Fung, turned Omi evil, nearly took over the world, and almost killed you _at least_ twice." Kimiko pointed out, looking in at Ahn-Li again. "This is serious."

Omi put up his fist in between all of them, bringing their attention down to him. "Perhaps a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors is the proper way to decide." he suggested, grinning from ear to ear.

Clay put his hands out in front of him, taking a step back. "No way." He tipped his hat to them, turning to walk down the hall. "Y'all can go ahead, but I'm gonna get outta dodge before the sparks fly."

The other three shrugged their shoulders, gladly taking his suggestion as they put their fists out. Raimundo and Kimiko glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, smirking and chuckling deviously. "Rock! Paper! Scissors!"

Omi's hand remained in a tight fist while Kimiko's and Raimundo's palms were opened. No matter how many times they had tried to teach this game to him, he would pick the rock every time. Kimiko nodded, shoving him into the room. Omi took an uneasy breath, looking behind him at Kimiko and Raimundo, who were shooing him into the room. He walked further into the room and stopped in front of Ahn-Li, clearing his throat. "A nickel for your thoughts, Nguyen Ahn-Li?"

"It's penny, kid." she said.

Omi's hand abruptly went across his knee as he let out a hearty laugh. "All forms of currency! But, in regards to Chase Young…" Kimiko and Raimundo ducked around the corner when they saw one of Ahn-Li's eyes open in half a glare. Omi, however was still going. "Did you two, by any chance grow up in the same province?"

"I haven't lived in China since I was five." Both of her eyes were now open "And do I look like I'm fifteen hundred years old to you?"

"No..." His face lit up and he raised a finger along with a point, "But neither does Chase Young!"

Her eyebrow ticked and she pointed at the door. "Get out!" she roared.

Omi squeaked, taking a couple of steps back and then running out the door. Raimundo grabbed him and pulled him out of the doorway. The little boy was panting, his dark eyes wide as he looked up at Raimundo. "That was possibly the most terrifying thing I have ever done in my life!" he cried in hushed tones, hugging Raimundo.

Raimundo's face deadpanned and he put his palm on Omi's head, casually pushing him off of him. Kimiko leaned against the wall, grinning at the Dragon of the Wind. "Your turn, Rai."

He was quiet for a moment, viewing this as going to his own execution. And, truth be told, he didn't want to die, not just yet. "Nose game!" he called quietly.

"Wha?"

Kimiko looked at Raimundo to see his finger on his nose, and him grinning. Her eyebrows arose with surprise. She readied to protest, but Raimundo nodded his head to the meditation hall. She stomped her foot in protest, but went inside anyways. She forced a little grin on her face as she approached the meditating Dragon. "Are you and Chase related in any way?" Kimiko asked, "Like he's your living ancestor or something?"

Ahn-Li shuddered, but managed to hold her meditative pose. "_God_, no. I would sooner jump into a tar pit than be related to that snake."

Kimiko was smart enough to avoid asking anymore questions and simply nodded, making a hasty retreat from the room. She let out a relieved sigh, glad to be rid of that heavy atmosphere. "Alright, Raimundo."

Again, Raimundo was quiet, his eyes searching for another possible way to stall. At this time, Dojo slithered up to them, finishing off the last but of a cupcake. "Hey, kiddies." He brushed the crumbs out of his beard. "What're you up to?"

As though a light bulb went off in his head, Raimundo smiled deviously, shrugging his shoulders casually. "Ah, nothing. Just wondering how Ahn-Li knows Chase."

Dojo smiled, flipping his hand through the air casually. "No need for that, 'cause I already know the answer." He winked at them before he went into the room. He stopped beside Ahn-Li and leaned into her arm, batting his eyelashes. "You two were _together_, weren't you?" he asked with a sly grin.

She pinned Dojo to the floor by his neck without even looking at him, leaving him squirming beneath her palm. She opened her eyes, anger flashing in them. "Like I'd ever go out with that conniving lizard of a man!" She yelled down at him. "Look, I really don't want to talk about it, alright?" She looked at the doorway, seeing the other monks peering into it. She stood up, sending a pointed glare in their direction. "Ask me about that guy one more time, and I swear I'll knock your frickin' teeth out!"

Master Fung appeared behind her at this time, putting his hands on the slender girl's shoulders. "It would be best to let her be for now, young Dragons." He advised them. "Ahn-Li will tell you when she is ready." He looked down at her, the usual kind smile on his face. "Isn't that right, young one?"

Her face calmed significantly and she bowed silently to him. She then turned on her heel and ran out of the meditation hall and to her room… Which she had trouble finding because, like the day before, she got horribly lost in the temple.

After an unexpected journey through the temple, Ahn-Li managed to make it to her room. She laid back on her mat with her Mp3 player plugged into her ears, trying to figure out why the other monks were prying so much. Just because she happened to know and _loathe_ one of the most evil men on Earth at did not mean anything to them. Or at least it shouldn't. It was her business. Besides, in her opinion, talking about that event meant reliving it, which had a ninety-nine percent chance of making her angrier. "Maybe I'll let off a little steam with some training." She thought out loud, pulling the headphones out of her ears and setting the Mp3 player in her chest.

The one place Ahn-Li could always find the way to was the temple training grounds. If there was anything she loved more than food, it was training.

She took her stance at the training dummy and proceeded to beat the stuffing out of it. Literally. Cotton was flying with each punch and kick she dealt to it. She even went so far as to give in to her girlish side and slashed at the dummy's face with her nails

Surprisingly, the training only made her anger grow. She had her hands around its neck, about to rip its head off, when someone then tapped her on the shoulder. Acting upon instinct, and a bit of blind fury, she brought her foot up and swung it around, as to kick her unexpected visitor. Her foot was caught in an instant. "Chill out, Ahn-Li." The person said calmly. "It's only me."

Somewhat soothed by the voice, she was now seeing through serene eyes. However, once she saw who it was she was mad again. Actually, she flew off the handle a moment later. "Dammit, Raimundo," she shouted, smacking him on the arm, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry, didn't know you were in the zone." Raimundo said, putting his hands up defensively. "I just wanted to see if you were feeling any better and I had a feeling you'd be here."

"Well, I'm not." She snapped, glaring at him. "Now that you know, you can leave"

She tore her foot from his grip and straightened her robes, practicing her stances. Raimundo's arms folded over his chest as he watched her practice. She looked so focused as she went through her stances, but the aggressive manner in which they were done emphasized the anger she was feeling. "What is it about Chase Young that makes you so mad?" he asked after a long period of silence.

She froze in the tiger stance, her eyebrow starting to tick again. She took a deep breath in an attempt to control her anger, failing miserably. "I already told y'all I didn't want to talk about it, and I really don't!" she snapped. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Raimundo opened his mouth to answer, then shut it again. That was a good question. After what had happened in the meditation hall, the other Xiaolin Dragons had decided to let her be. He was the only one to stay on the subject. He didn't know why. He just did.

She turned on her heel and started to run off again. She had not even gotten a decent sprint going before Raimundo caught her by the wrist. Ahn-Li, in turn, grabbed his hand and worked to pry it off of her. He kept his grip loose, but not so loose that she would be able to slip out of it. "Why don't you just tell me?" he persisted.

"I don't want to, now let me go!" she protested, trying even harder to pull herself away from him.

This actually hurt her because Chase had already left a bruise as payback the pedophile comment she had made earlier. He jerked her wrist forward and pulled her to him, now looking straight into her eyes. "Just me." He suggested again.

Ahn-Li glared at him. It became difficult to hold the face when he was looking at her with such innocent curiosity and she was now putting more effort into fighting her oncoming blush. He almost looked—dare she think it—cute.

"Ugh!" She sighed in defeat. This Dragon was more trouble than he was worth. "If I tell you and just you, can you have the others _please_ get off my back about it?"

His eyes lit up and a smile decorated his face at the small victory. "I give you my word as Shoku Warrior."

She finally managed to wrench her wrist from his grip. "Okay, then."

The two went and sat by the pond, the only other place she knew the way to. As of late, Ahn-Li had found that to be a good place to clear her head. She would need to if she wanted to get through this conversation. She was laying on her stomach, crossing her ankles in the air as she began her story. "We should probably start from the very beginning. When I was about two, Nai-Nai, my grandma, started teaching me Kung Fu. She actually gave private lessons for a living. She was no easier on me than any other kid she took in, though." She nibbled on one of her knuckles with a small grin. "Actually, I think she was hardest on me."

She thought back to her lessons in the back yard of her house and how Yang-Li drove her into the ground during training sessions.

_"Keep your hands straight, Yue!" Yang-Li shouted, "Like a board!"_

_A four-year-old Ahn-Li was in a basic mantis stance, panting heavily from the intense training session she'd been having with her grandmother. "I'm trying, Nai-Nai!"_

_A stalk of bamboo flew at her. Ahn-Li's eyes widened and she cut it with her hand. Three more came towards her. She blocked one with her elbow and kicked another. The fifth one was nearly upon her and she ducked quickly, seeing her short life flashing before her eyes. She sighed with relief and smiled. Suddenly Yang-Li was in front of her, a fan in hand. She smacked her granddaughter in the forehead. "Ow!" she cried, covering her forehead, "Nai-Nai..."_

_"You moved away." She scolded her, "Jiānqiáng. Again!"_

"When I was five, we moved to America and Nai-Nai enrolled me in a martial arts academy and I started taking Karate along with the Kung Fu at home. I worked my butt off every day and then come home for more training with Nai-Nai. I ended up leaving the academy when I was thirteen."

"Not that this isn't interesting," Raimundo interrupted, bringing a scowl from her. "But what does this have to with how you and Chase know each other?"

"Hold on, it's getting there. After graduating, I entered competitions and tournaments and always came out in the top three. In all of my competitions, Chase always was there." She shuddered. "When I turned fifteen, they let me go into the adult tournaments. This is when I actually noticed Chase..."

_Ahn-Li was walking down to the street to the stadium where the competition was going to be. When she got there, standing by the door was a young man. He looked looked be about nineteen years of age. He had long, silky black hair and wore bronze armor. When she saw his gold, lizard-like eyes, she remembered seeing him at the other contests she participated in in the past. She had not noticed this because of the distance that had been between them before, but there was a sinister, cold chill that surrounded him. It struck a nervous twinge in her that made her freeze where she stood. As he started to walk over to her, the loudspeaker cut the tense air. "Contestants, the tournament will start in twenty minutes."_

_This gave Ahn-Li enough time to snap out of her daze run to the back door of the alley and into locker room, leaving him standing there. She quickly undid her braided pigtails and tied her hair up in a messy bun before changing into her black gi. As she walked into the stadium and she saw him out in the audience. He was sitting in the bleachers, in perfect view of her. She walked onto the stage and wondered, _Who is he? Why is he always here?

_"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our tenth annual Freestyle Martial Arts Competition!" said the announcer as the crowd cheered, "In this corner, the 23-year-old Martial Arts Menace, Jacob Hunt! And in this corner, the Femme Fatale famous throughout the state. The first 15-year-old permitted to compete in this competition, give it up for the Teenage Terror, Ahn-Li Nguyen!"_

_"She'll never win." She heard some people say._

_"Look at how skinny she is." others commented._

_"Is this even legal?"_

_The two bowed to each other, taking their stances. Then, the bell rang and the fight began. Hunt made the first move, a punch to the gut, but Ahn-Li dodged it. Seeing that, he then attempted a roundhouse on her, only to have it blocked. He growled, running his foot under her in a sweep and she flipped away from it. That was most of the fight. He would attack and she would dodge. She knew this guy was bigger than her, so she would need to tire him out before she did anything._

_Hunt got frustrated and came in quickly to punch her, but she grabbed his wrist, elbowing him sharply in the chin before flipping him over her head and slamming him into the floor. The stadium went silent with awe. Then they roared with cheers. "The winner, Ahn-Li!" the referee announced, raising Ahn-Li's hand in the air._

_It went on like that for that for the next nine matches. She would just toy with her opponents and then, once they were tired out, she'd hit them with a couple of sharp blows and then with what she called a "kill shot," ending the match._

_Ahn-Li was now in her last fight, which was against a muscular judo master. She landed quite a few decent hits on him, but no matter what she did he just refused to go down. Having reached the limits of her patience, Ahn-Li jumped as he swept his foot under her legs, and then lifted her leg for a roundhouse kick. He simply grabbed her leg and swung her around, tossing her out of the ring and into a wall._

_The audience let out groans of disappointment , as well as sympathetic groans of pain, as they watched, grieving that her good performance was all for naught. Chase, however, raised an eyebrow. He seemed intrigued by it._

_After helping her back up onto the ring, the referee handed her the silver trophy. Second place. She glanced down at it in visible disappointment, letting out a little sigh. _Silver again… _She thought to herself as she looked out in the audience. She furrowed her brows, finding that Chase had vanished._

_She went to the locker room and took a short shower to rid herself of the sweat. "Who is he...?" she asked herself as she changed back into her casual clothes._

_Ahn-Li walked out the back door of the stadium and back onto the Atlanta streets, finishing up her second braid and tying it off. It was already late at night, though it seemed like that tournament had only lasted a short time, so she quickened her steps a little. It was not out of fear, though; she could quite easily handle herself. She just didn't want her family to worry._

_ She was speed-walking down the streets, humming quietly, when she was suddenly pulled into an alley._ _With the force of the pull, s__he ended up hitting her head on the wall. It began throbbing on impact and it instantly antagonized her. "Hey! Watch…it…"_

_The same man from before had her backed up against a wall. His eyes were even more enigmatic and chilling up close. For a moment, she was frozen again but she quickly brought herself back to reality. "I've seen you many times, but have never said anything. Who are you and what are you after?"_

_"Chase Young, at your service." he introduced himself._

_His name clicked with her for some reason, and her blood ran cold. She racked her brain for the name in question, trying to figure out why it bothered her so much. It seemed so familiar to her, but she just couldn't figure out why. Perhaps he was an acquaintance of her mother. Or maybe a role player she'd met at a festival once._

_Suddenly, a pulse flashed through her brain and a strong shiver ran up her spine. In her head, she heard her grandmother's voice telling her the story of the Heylin Dragon._"… But Chase Young, one of the Dragons, had a weakness. It was not enough for him to just be a Dragon. He wanted to be the best of the best, prove his worth to the entire world. This made it easy for Hannibal Roy Bean, an evil little spirit, to lead him away from the Xiaolin way. In exchange for power, Chase gave up his soul and turned him to the Heylin side. The Dark side. Then Chase Young locked Hannibal Bean away in the Ying Yang World, ensuring that he was now the most powerful being on Earth."

_Her eyes went wide at the realization and she swallowed with great difficulty. Until now, she had always thought him to be a myth, an old peasant tale, but Chase Young was all too real. _If he knows my name, that can't be a good thing… _she thought._

_"As to what I'm after," he continued, "I want you."_

_"WHAT?" She was shocked, to say the least, not expecting that answer at all. "First of all, we are nowhere in the same age group! Besides…" She went glassy-eyed, staring off into space. "I'm tying the knot with Orlando Bloom."_

_"That's—"_

"Could you please get to the point, woman?" Raimundo interrupted yet again through an exasperated sigh.

Ahn-Li grabbed the front of his robe and pulled it down, effortlessly sending him tumbling into the pond with a loud splash. "You're the one who wanted to know so badly," she reminded him irritably, her accent getting heavier, "So shut up, quit interrupting, and listen!"

Raimundo's head popped out of the water and he spat out a fish, coughing. "Okay, okay! Jeez…"

"Now where was I? Oh yeah."

_"First of all, we are nowhere in the same age group! Besides…" She went glassy-eyed, staring off into space. "I'm tying the knot with Orlando Bloom."_

_"That's not what I meant." Chase told her._ _She breathed a sigh of relief as he rolled his eyes. "The teenagers of this era never fail to disappoint…" His face turned serious again. "I am currently looking for a new apprentice. I have been watching you for quite a while and so far, you are the only candidate."_

_"Okay…" She grinned childishly. "So, I was right. You are a stalker after all."_

_Chase frowned, but it quickly shifted back into a smirk. "Clearly you don't understand what I'm offering you." He pushed his hand against the wall, putting himself in an upright standing position. "I am offering you the chance to be a partner to the most powerful being in the world. I can teach you things that are only thought of in fantasy."_

_She watched as he waved one hand through the air, a trail of black fire following after it. He then curled his hand into a fist, containing it. "You can learn fighting techniques that even your master doesn't know, some of which trace back thousands of years." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Who knows? You might even rise from your permanent status as _second best_."_

_This struck a nerve in her. Ahn-Li was always the competitive type and she hated being anything less that number one. It was just that no matter how hard she tried, it did her no good. She'd train day in and day out and fight her hardest, to her last breath. It never got her anywhere, though, for she always ended up coming in second._

_However, if she were to train with Chase Young, that was very likely to change. He wasn't called the greatest warrior of all time for nothing, no doubt about that. It was worth a shot, even if it were just for a little while, if it meant that she could finally come out on top and be able to hold that giant gold trophy in her hands. Maybe she could even…_

_She frowned, shaking her head and ridding herself of the thoughts. Yang-Li probably would have slapped her clean across the face for speaking in favor of the Heylin. _What am I thinking? As tempting as that is, _she scolded herself,_ I can't join him. First of all, he might make me wear armor like _that_. Second of all, Nai-Nai taught me that all that glitters isn't gold... Especially if it's glittering on the Heylin side.

_She looked up at him, defiance shining in her lilac eyes. "Well, you're going to have keep looking o Prince of Darkness," She said through her teeth, "Because I'm afraid I must decline your offer."_

_She slipped under his arm and turned to leave when he grabbed her by the arm and threw her towards the wall. Luckily for her, she was able to turn herself around, feet first, and spring herself off of the wall before her head made contact. She tucked herself into a roll to cushion the fall against the hard ground, landing in a crouch. She looked over her shoulder to see Chase extend a hand to her, telling her to bring it on. "What? You really want to fight me after you saw me beat people twice my size and age? For an evil super genius, that's not very smart."_

_"Believe me, I am not the one you should be worried about." He assured her, his smirk only growing._

_Her eyebrow ticked at this. She didn't remember Yang-Li saying that he was this infuriating. "Well, I hope you're ready to lose to a girl." she growled._

_"I hear you barking, little dog." He taunted her with the raise of an eyebrow. "Let's see how you bite."_

_That tore it. "Gladly!" she shouted, curling her hands into tiger palms._

_She thrust one hand forward, aiming the heel of her palm at his chest. He slapped her hand down and then shoved her, all with one hand. She rooted her feet in the ground, keeping her from going far, and then swung her foot around for a round house, only to have him duck. She aimed a punch to his face and he simply moved his head to one side. She repeated this and he moved his head the other way. This led into a series of wild, quick punches that were aimed for every part of his body. He easily blocked them all, his hands moving at the same speed as her. He found an opening between her swift hands, ramming the heel of his hand into her chest and sending her backwards with the move she'd failed at earlier. She skidded back a bit, but then jumped right back into the fray._

_This fight was different from anything Ahn-Li had ever experienced. She was putting every bit of herself, all of her energy into the fight, using all of her best moves. But Chase wove through her attacks, treating it like it was simply a game, never once leaving the spot he was standing in. It actually took her some effort to keep herself standing. No matter what she threw at him, he could find a way around it and send it back even harder. Then again, he was_ _superior to her by a good fifteen hundred years._

_Ahn-Li at last became exceedingly frustrated and curled one hand into a fist, throwing it forward towards Chase's face. Chase simply grabbed her fist and pulled her forward, deciding that it was time to end this._

_The girl's eyes went wide and she let out a gasp as she felt Chase's knee slamming into her ribs as fast as a comet and twice as hard. She doubled over as soon as Chase released her, falling flat on the ground. She weakly pushed herself up to her knees and coughed a few times, a large amount of blood splattering onto the sidewalk. "You fight well for one so frail." Chase said, watching as she wiped the blood from her lips. "I'm impressed."_

_"You're not… so bad… yourself…" She strained the words out, putting a hand on the wall to steady herself as she rose to her feet._

_Ahn-Li leaned back against the wall, heavy, ragged pants leaving her, her free hand over her ribs. Her entire body was racked with pain and her muscles burned with fatigue. That was the worst she had ever been beaten before. She couldn't go anymore._

_Chase simply did not feel like continuing the fight and decided to leave. "For now, we'll leave it as a draw." A light breeze was sweeping over the alley, going around Chase. "Farewell, Ahn-Li Nguyen. We shall meet again."_

_"You're not leaving till I—"_

_A heavy whirlwind of dust surrounded Chase and she had to close her eyes for a moment. When they opened again, he was gone. Her teeth ground together and she let out a growl. "DAMN IT ALL!"_

_She punched the wall in pure frustration, ignoring the blood trickling from her knuckles, and then picked up her bag and started to limp home._

"Of course, I went to the hospital when I got home and found out I had fractured two ribs. Papa forbade me from competition." Ahn-Li nodded her head as she finished her tale. "And that's how it happened."

"Why are you so upset about that?" Raimundo asked, still drying his hair out. "I'd feel pretty good about myself if I got in a draw with Chase Young."

Ahn-Li turned sharply to him. "You don't get it. To me, a draw is worse, _ten times_ worse, than losing. I don't lose." she snapped. She then took a second to calm down a bit. "As soon as I was well again, I went back to my martial arts school and trained even harder with Nai-Nai to get ready for a rematch with him. No matter what it takes, I'm going to beat him."

Raimundo patted Ahn-Li's shoulder, an amused smile on his face; there was no way she would accomplish that goal. "Well, good luck with that one." He said with a chuckle, laying back on the grass and closing his eyes. "You'll definitely need it."

Ahn-Li looked down at him with a giggle. Contrary to her belief, it helped to open up for once. "Hey, Raimundo?"

He opened one eye to look at her. "Yeah?"

She pulled her knees to her chest, rocking on them with a smile. "Talking about this did make me feel better. Thank you."

Raimundo smiled again, opening both eyes. "Hey, that's what friends do." He said.

_Friends…_ She thought, her smile growing. _I like the sound of that._

**Ana: I'm back! Guys? Chase? 'Mundo? Hey, where are you guys?**

**Chase/Rai: zzz... snore... zzz**

**Ana: Awww! They're so cute when they're asleep. While y'all were reading the story, I made those two knuckleheads rebuild my living room. They did an awesome job, mind you, but they fell asleep when they were done. -sigh- They're not fighting which means I don't have referee which means I have nothing to do. I'M SO BORED! ka-choo.**

**Chase/Rai: yawn... zzz...**

**Ana: ka-choo! ka-choo! Hmm, that's weird. See you in the next chapter. Please review. AAA-CHOO!**


	4. Getting the Hang of It

**Chase: Hold still Ana.**

**Ana: Whad's de damage? ka-choo!**

**Chase: 103.2 F. You have a fever.**

**Rai: Which means you have to sit in bed eating soup and resting 'til you get better.**

**Ana: I'll be fide. A-choo! Don't worry. It's just a liddle cold.**

**Chase: Just go to sleep.**

**Ana: Duh-uh. Dot godda happen.**

**Chase/Rai: GO TO BED!**

**Ana: Hmph. As long as you're up, get be some tea. Gidseng would be good.**

**Rai: Ginseng and soup, got it.**

**Ana: As you cad tell, I have a subber cold. Don't wanna let you guys dowd, so here's de dext chap. KA-CHOO! KA-CHOO! KAAAA-CHOO!**

******Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**  


Chapter 4: Getting the Hang of It

Another day, another chance. That's how it was for Ahn-Li. She had been at the Xiaolin Temle for about three weeks now, undergoing intense element training. While having great powers, the young girl's abilities weren't fully under control.

All the monks were on the temple training grounds. While Raimundo, Clay and Kimiko stood off to the side, Omi and Ahn-Li were standing across from each other. "C'mon, Omi!" Ahn-Li encouraged him, hopping up and down where she stood "Bring it on! I know I've got it right this time."

"Wudai Neptune: Water!" Omi sent a huge wave of water towards Ahn-Li.

"Super Nova Flare: Light!"

Ahn-Li put her hand out expecting her attack to come forth, but she only got a little yellow spark. "Uh-oh. Omi! Omi! Stop the-" The wave drenched her from head to toe, like it had for the past few days. "Water…"

Omi ran over to his now drenched new friend, "_W__ǒ__ h__ě__n b__à__oqi__à__n, _Nguyen Ahn-Li." He apologized; since she had come around, he had started using his Chinese more frequently. "I thought you had it under control this time."

"Yeah, that makes two of us." Ahn-Li said wringing out her wet hair, "I don't get it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. What's the pattern here?"

"Try to focus 'em." Clay advised her. "That helped us when we were first starting out."

"I did, but it didn't work. I starting to think I'm ever going to get these powers under control."

Kimiko had a finger to her chin, looking like she was thinking. "Did you think about looking in the Sacred Scrolls?" She piped up.

"Um… no." She admitted, scratching the back of her head. "I've never even heard of them…"

"The Scrolls probably have something about the Xiaolin Dragons." Raimundo implied, "Let's go."

Dojo crawled up onto Ahn-Li's shoulder and they all went to the chamber that held all of the Sacred Scrolls. As soon as the doors opened, Ahn-Li's mouth dropped at the large number of scrolls in the room. "_Méi bànfǎ… _There's gotta be a million of these!" she exclaimed.

"Then we best start lookin'." Clay said.

"Yeesh. I knew we should've categorized these things." Dojo whined.

Everybody grabbed some scrolls and started scanning them for information. Ahn-Li was now thankful for learning to read Chinese. They found out some pretty interesting things; including the real story behind the Trojan horse, Cleopatra's real life story, even about Attila the Hun's older sister. While interesting, it was all useless, as it had nothing to do with their current dilemma. The day flew by and soon it was time for dinner. "Did you guys find out anything?" Kimiko asked.

"I found out that the only reason Attila the Hun invaded was because he wanted to be better than his older sister, Cassidy the Conqueror." Dojo replied.

Raimundo slurped on his noodles, "She meant about the Dragon of Light, Dojo. I didn't find anything."

"Nothing whatsoever." Ahn-Li said, sadly chewing on a dumpling.

"Me neither." Clay followed.

"I am also one who came up empty-armed." Omi said.

"'Empty-handed' Omi." Kimiko corrected.

As soon as dinner was over and they did the dishes, the monks went to play soccer before it got dark. Well, everyone except Ahn-Li. She went back to the chamber of the Sacred Scrolls and began searching again. Raimundo popped his head in with his soccer ball under his arm. "Hey, Ahn-Li."

She looked up from the scroll. "Hey, Rai."

"We're about to play soccer." He grinned at her, "Wanna join in?"

"Nah. I kind of wanna keep looking for what I need." She answered and smiled, "Maybe tomorrow."

His grin expanded and he nodded."Alright. See ya later."

"Bye." She said, waving to him.

Raimundo disappeared around the corner. She groaned and got back to looking for the scroll she needed.

She had successfully spent four full hours looking and was beginning to think she wouldn't ever find out what she needed to know. It was nearly midnight now. "Ugh… This is so whack it's not even funny! I've looked at about a hundred of these things and haven't found anything! AUGH!" she banged the wall with her hand, "Ow! Son of a…"

"Is something troubling you, young monk?" Master Fung asked, walking into the room.

"It's nothing Master Fung, nothing at all." She said, giving him a thumbs up with her good hand. Master Fung raised an eyebrow and her smile faded, "Well, I'm pretty stressed out right now, truth be told."

"Oh? And why are you so upset?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

She rested her chin on her knuckles. "It's these dumb powers. Don't get me wrong, I know these powers are a gift, but they're too random. It's just that, one minute I can use them, the next I can't. There's no… _rhythm_ to it." Being a dancer, rhythm was a largely important part of her life. She picked up a new scroll, looking down at it. "I was thinking one of the scrolls could tell me something. I haven't found out anything from them. Yet."

"We really should organize these scrolls." Master Fung said, looking around at the room and stroking his chin.

"Tell me about it…" Ahn-Li muttered under her breath, her eyes scanning the scroll in front of her.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "It is getting late. You should get some rest Ahn-Li."

"I wanna keep looking." She grinned at him, "Besides, I'm not tired."

"Very well. Good night Ahn-Li."

"Good night."

Twenty minutes later, Ahn-Li's eyes began to droop ever so slightly. _Damn, I'm tired… I'll close my eyes, just for a minute._

Three hours passed before anyone else noticed her there. Kimiko was getting a glass of water when she saw her friend lying amongst a bunch of scrolls, fast asleep, using some of them as pillows. _Poor Ahn-Li_, Kimiko thought, _She must've worn herself out looking through all these scrolls all evening._

She walked over to Ahn-Li. "Hey, Ahn-Li." Kimiko whispered, nudging her lightly, "Wake up."

Ahn-Li opened her eyes and looked up, "Kimiko?" she yawned, rubbing her eyes, "What time is it?"

"3:17 am."

"Really? Wow, that was a pretty long minute."

The Japanese girl's head tilted to the side. "What?"

"Nothing." Ahn-Li said cracking her neck. "Where are you headed?"

Kimiko shrugged her shoulders. "Just to get a little water."

"I'll come too. I'm kind of thirsty anyway."

The two girls walked into the kitchen and Kimiko poured them a couple of glasses of water. They both took a seat at the dining table. "So, did you find anything at all?" Kimiko asked.

Ahn-Li shook her head. "Nothing."

She would've explained herself further but she was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. Both girls immediately went into their pockets and they fished out their phones. Ahn-Li's was the source of the noise, though. "Who'd call me this late at night? Hello, Ahn-Li's on the line."

**"Yo, wuzzup cous! How's it goin' in China?"**said a voice familiar to Ahn-Li.

"Jake?"

**"Who'd you think it was, Grandpa?"**

"It is you! How have you been, Jake?"

**"A little schoolwork here, a little dragon stuff there. Pretty much the same as always. What about you? You sound kinda tired."**

"Well, it's about 3:30 here." Ahn-Li pointed out.

**"Then, you should get back to sleep. See y-" **

"Before you go, how old's Haley now?"

**"Unfortunately, she turned ten last week."** Jake answered in an annoyed tone.

"Well, give her and Yeh-Yeh a hug, and Trix and Spud a shout out for me, kay? Bye."

**"See ya Li-Li!" **Jake laughed.

"Hey!" Jake hung up before Ahn-Li got to yell at him, "I hate it when he calls me that."

"Who was that?" Kimiko asked her.

A smile instantly overtook the Ahn-Li's face, replacing the anger. "That was my cousin, Jake. He lives in New York City. We talk to each other all the time."

Kimiko smiled, by the way she was talking, she loved her cousin very much. "Does he know about the whole Xiaolin Dragon thing?"

"No. I plan on telling him the next time I see him. But I can't say he'll be surprised."

"How come?" Kimiko asked, her blue eyes reflecting her confusion.

"Oh. No reason." She stood up and stretched, "Let's catch go to bed. I'm still tired and we have to get up two hours from now."

Kimiko and Ahn-Li went back to their respective rooms and went to sleep.

The next day, after breakfast, the monks and Dojo went back to the room of the Sacred Scrolls to look for what Ahn-Li needed. After looking through another large amount of scrolls, Ahn-Li let out a huge frustrated sigh and emerged from under a mountain of scrolls, surprising everyone. They had wondered where she had disappeared. "This is impossible!" she yelled out to her friends, "We're never gonna find what we need!"

She punched the shelf next to her, shaking the whole thing. Something on the top, the very top, fell down and hit her on the head. "Ow!" she yepled as she rubbed her head in pain before stringing into some angry Chinese.

Ahn-Li looked down at the thing that hit her and picked it up. Her large lilac eyes sparkled in wonder. It was a scroll, only this one was encased in cherry wood with little dragons carved into it and it had dragon-shaped handles. "Watcha got there Ahn-Li?" Clay asked when he saw Ahn-Li staring at the scroll.

"I'm… not so sure, really." She admitted.

Everyone crowded around Ahn-Li and the scroll, all wondering what it was. "It kind of resembles the Shen Gong Wu Scroll." Omi observed.

"Except for the little dragons in the wood." Kimiko pointed out.

They all looked at it for another minute or so and decided to check with Dojo. "Hey Dojo, do you know what scroll this is?" Raimundo asked, pointing to it.

Dojo slithered up Ahn-Li's shoulder and she handed him the scroll. He carefully examined it and suddenly his eyes lit up. "Of course!" he said, slapping himself on the forehead, "Why didn't I think of it before?" They all raised eyebrows at him, clearly confused. This, boys and girls, is the Scroll of the Dragons."

"The what of the who-now?" Ahn-Li questioned him.

"The Scroll of the Dragons. This tells all about the Xiaolin Dragon. What gender they usually are, expected abilities, and super-special techniques."

"So, we've been looking through scrolls for two days," Clay began with a raised eyebrow, "When you knew all about this one?"

Dojo chuckled nervously when he saw the look on Ahn-Li's face. Her eyes were practically glowing with anger, "Kinda bad time to remember isn't it? Please don't hurt me!" he begged her.

"Give me that!" she snapped, snatching up the scroll.

Ahn-Li opened it up and they all peered over her shoulder to look at it, noting how the words were accompanied by a few pictures. They all scanned it for information about the Dragon of Light. "Ah! Here we go. The Dragon of Light." Ahn-Li said triumphantly. She began reading, "_'The Dragon of Light is the rarest to appear of the Xiaolin Dragons. Like the others, his or her powers are made known during adolescence. This dragon is strongest during the day and under the light of a full moon. He or she can use the light around him or her and can generate shocking bursts of light from their body as an elemental attack. The attacks at first may come and go, but this is only because the dragon's powers are maturing. After fives weeks of training, the attacks should come on demand…'" She frowned._ "Five weeks? That's too long. There's gotta be a faster way."

"Keep reading. Maybe you'll find out how to speed it up a bit."

"Mm-hmm. _'…the attacks should come on demand, but if fiercely determined and focused, he or she could gain control over his or her powers sooner.'_ Now that's more like it! It also says, _'The Dragons as a group can perform a joint attack…_Blah-blah-blah. I know what I need to, and more so I'm good." Ahn-Li said disregarding everything else on the scroll about the Dragon of Light.

"Joint attack?" Kimiko inquired.

"My guess is that it's a combination attack." Raimundo determined.

"Well, what is it?" Clay asked.

"You look, Rai," Ahn-Li said, thrusting the scroll into his palm and rubbing her eyes. She could easily write in Chinese, but strongly disliked reading it. "So many characters…"

Raimundo opened up the scroll. He looked for anything that had to do with joint attacks. "Let's see… His eyes were suddenly fixated on one spot of the scroll. "Elemental Unity?" Everyone pricked up their ears at that. "Dojo, what's Elemental Unity?"

"Elemental Unity? Elemental Unity…" Dojo thought out loud, "Oh, I remember that. It's an attack Dragons use when they combine their energy into one powerful attack. You need to have at least two dragons for it to work."

"This is all so interesting!" Omi said excitedly.

"How long do we have to wait to learn it?" Kimiko asked eagerly.

"Well, until Li-Li here can learn to control her powers." Dojo answered.

Suddenly Ahn-Li exploded. "Don't call me Li-Li, you stupid little salamander!" She yelled, pinning Dojo to the ground, "Who told you about that name? It was Jake wasn't it?"

"Ah… It just seemed to fit…" He rasped, "Can't breathe…"

By the time they had finished searching, they realized that they had taken up the entire day and a majority of the evening. After eating a light dinner, they all went to sleep.

The next morning, Ahn-Li was the first one up. After eating a bowl of rice, she went out to the training grounds to attempt to get the desired control over her powers. Like the scroll said _'if fiercely determined and focused, he or she could gain control over his or her powers sooner' _and she wasn't going to give up until she got it right.

The sun was barely up now and Ahn-Li was still busy practicing and practicing and practicing. Two hours had passed since her awakening, and she was still working. "Super Nova Flare: Light!"

She aimed her hand towards the target, but nothing happened. She shook her hand, Ugh! Come on!"

Ahn-Li decided to try again. "Super Nova Flare: Light!"

She aimed her hand towards the target and her hand began to glow lightly. _I can do this._ She said to herself, _And I _will_ do this. I am a Xiaolin Dragon, dammit!_

Then it happened. Ahn-Li felt a tingly feeling moving through her arm and to her fingertips and her hand started to glow. A yellow bolt shot out of her palm and hit the target. She stared down at her hand with glee, but she was still in denial about the fact she had just done that. To test herself, she did it a few more times, getting the same result. She ran inside to get her friends. She found them in the dining hall eating breakfast and she excitably ran up to them. "Guys, I did it! I really did it!"

"What are you talking about, Nguyen Ahn-Li?" Omi asked confusedly.

"My powers. I figured them out. I think I have them under control now!" she said excitedly, "Come on, I'll show you."

Everyone went out to the training grounds and once again, Ahn-Li was facing the target. "Watch and be amazed." Ahn-Li pointed her hand at the target. The fuzzy feeling returned and so did the glowing, "Super Nova Flare: Light!" Three yellow bolts shot out of Ahn-Li's hand and they all hit the bulls-eye. She grinned over at the other Dragons. "And what?"

"Great job, Ahn-Li!" Kimiko cheered, clapping.

"Thank you, thank you. No autographs, please." Ahn-Li said taking numerous bows for her friends.

"Careful, Kimiko. You might give Ahn-Li a big head." Raimundo warned.

"Don't worry. Omi's got that covered." Clay joked.

"My head is not that big!" Omi defended, throwing his hands over his head.

"Relax, Omi. They're just playing with you." Ahn-Li assured him, patting his head and laughing playfully.

Dojo suddenly slithered out to the training grounds. He was holding the Shen Gong Wu Scroll, with little red bumps all over him. "Heads up, boys and girls! We've got a new Wu on the market and as you can see it's giving me Shen Gong Wu blisters."

"Eww!" everyone turned away.

Dojo turned into a full-size dragon and one of his blisters popped off. "Okay, that's _beyond_ gross." Ahn-Li said, covering her mouth in an attempt to hold back vomit.

Everyone except Ahn-Li boarded the dragon. "Nguyen Ahn-Li, are you still afraid of heights?" Omi asked sympathetically.

"Yes." Ahn-Li answered honestly, smirking. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let y'all have all the fun. Let's go!"

She got on behind Raimundo and Dojo took off to… wherever the new Wu was going to be.

**Ana: I'm still kinda sick so I'll be brief. In the next chapter, you'll meet Ahn-Li's cousin, although, if you watch 'American Dragon: Jake Long' you know him already. **

**Chase/Rai: (drag her away from the computer) You're supposed to be resting.**

**Ana: Please review! And what Ahn-Li said upon seeing the Sacred Scroll room was "no way."**


	5. Back to the NYC

**Ana: Hello, hello, heeeeeeeeeeeeeello! I'm so happy you could join us for chapter 5. Yaaaay :3**

**Chase: -sigh- Ignore her. We're still waiting for the sleeping part of her medicine to kick in…**

**Ana: Chase is so silly. Silly! Willy! BILLY! -silence- And Mandy too!**

**Chase: Start the chapter. Quickly.**

**_Message from editor: Ahn-Li and Jake are the same age. Just roll with it_**

******Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown or American Dragon, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**_  
_

Chapter 5: Back to the NYC

Dojo was flying above the clouds, still covered in Wu blisters as he went in the direction of the new Wu. Kimiko's hair was orange and she wore a brown t-shirt with tan sleeves and short layered dark brown skirt. Ahn-Li's pale face was hinted with a tint of lime as she clung to Raimundo. Clay looked back at her. "You alright, Ahn-Li?" He asked, "Ya look kinda green in the face."

"Of course I'm green!" she snapped, "I'm scared to death of heights already. Now I'm about to hurl 'cause Dojo's covered in these nasty blisters!"

"Hey, don't blame me!" Dojo defended himself, "Blame the new Wu!"

"What is it, anyway?" Omi asked curiously.

Kimiko pulled the Sacred Scroll out of her backpack and opened it up, a picture of someone playing a flute being shown. Raimundo peeked over Kimiko's shoulder as the person dropped to the ground a transparent version of it floated around the picture. "It's called the Flute of Spirit." Kimiko read, "Whoever uses this Wu can release their spirit and possess someone else's body, making them do whatever they please."

Raimundo grinned. "So, basically, we can turn people into human puppets?" He joked, moving his hands as though operating a marionette. "Cool."

Omi shook his head, humming to himself. "That is far too easy. There must be a toss."

The others, excluding Dojo, looked at the round-headed boy with confusion. It was yet another one of his failed attempts at using slang. "You must mean a catch." Clay guessed.

They others' mouths formed silent ohs with them nodding in agreement. Kimiko scanned the scroll, her eyes stopping at a certain part of the description. She mumbled it to herself then told the others what she had just read. "There's another Wu you need before you can actually use it."

Raimundo waved his hand. "Let's focus on getting this one first." he told the others as Dojo descended from the clouds. "We can worry about the other one when it goes active."

The sun was getting lower in the sky, spreading warm oranges and pinks across a series of skyscrapers. The city became larger and more recognizable with every passing second. Omi suddenly jumped up with a cheer. "Hooray! It's New York Ci_—_" He slipped from Dojo's back, "-tyyyyyyyyyy!"

"Omi!" Ahn-Li's hand dove into Kimiko's backpack and she hastily pulled out the Lotus Twister. She shouted the Wu's name, stretching her arm down to the yellow monk and pulling him back up to them. She glared fiercely at him, frightening him a bit. "_What_ is the matter with you?" She scolded him, her accent bleeding heavily into her words. "Are you tryin' to give me a heart attack?"

Omi bowed his head. "My apologies, Nguyen Ahn-Li." He beamed happily, "I am just very excited to be in New York City again!"

She also smiled with him then pumped a fist happily. "So am I, little guy." She then cupped her mouth with one hand, leaning over the side of Dojo. "What's up, New York City!"

"Shh!" Kimiko put a finger to her lips, giggling. "Way to draw attention to yourself."

"This is New York, Kimiko." she said, winking at her friend. "The people here don't pay attention to anything more than their morning paper."

Dojo spiraled down into the city and landed on the sidewalk, the monks jumping off as he reduced in size. He wrapped himself around Kimiko's arm, his head turning in different directions while he tried to pinpoint the Shen Gong Wu. "It's…" his arm suddenly straightened out and pointed down the street, "That way."

"You sure?" Kimiko asked, "We don't wanna get lost here again."

"Positive." Dojo assured her, shuddering as he remembered their last hunt in New York, "This Wu is totally stationary."

Shrugging, Kimiko led the group down the street with the small green dragon pointing the way. The city was in the evening rush hour with crowded sidewalks, backed up streets, the whole nine yards. It was difficult for the monks to navigate their way through the crowd and keep an eye on Omi to prevent him from running off again. As they walked by a school, Dojo suddenly twisted around, pointing both hands at the building. "It's there."

The group stopped and looked at the school building, then down at Dojo. "Well, that's an odd place to hide a Wu." Clay commented.

Through the windows of the large front doors, they could see that none of the lights were on; the building was dark. Omi tugged on the doors, but they did not budge. "It's locked." Omi told them.

"School's already over for the day, Omi." Raimundo explained, stroking his chin. "So how're we gonna get to the Wu?"

"Maybe we could go through an air vent or something." Kimiko thought out loud.

All the while, Ahn-Li had been looking at the school, trying to put together a plan of her own. She then snapped her fingers, gaining the attention of the others. "Yeah, I could ask… Of course!" She spoke at last, giving herself a light smack on the forehead. The other four monks and Dojo looked over at her with raised eyebrows. She nodded her head down the street and started walking in that direction. "Come on."

They looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders, then followed Ahn-Li down the street. She walked with a steady, purposeful stride, making them wonder what she was up to. However, it was obvious that she knew exactly where she was going, so it was best to just go with the flow.

After they had walked for about ten minutes, the group turned and walked onto a porch. Ahn-Li pushed the doorbell. Clay threw his hands in the air, sighing. "Alright. I give up. What're we doin'?" he asked.

"Just getting us a little bit closer to the Wu." Ahn-Li replied as the door opened.

Standing in the door frame was an Oriental woman in a lavender sweater and blue pants. She smiled down at the children. "Hello there. How can I help you?"

Ahn-Li clicked her tongue and folded her arms. "Only been a few months and she's already forgot me." She turned to her friends. "Absolutely heartbreaking…"

The woman blinked a couple of times, just staring at the girl standing before her. She then abruptly pulled Ahn-Li into a tight hug, which brought the monks to the height of their confusion. "AHN-LI! It's so good to see you, honey!" she cried happily, squeezing her tightly and twirling her around. "How have you been? Are you eating alright? How's Wen doing? And little Jing?"

Ahn-Li's face was changing colors once again, this time it was from the lack of oxygen. "Auntie Susan… Auntie Susan!" she rasped out, trying to pry her arms off of her. "Can't breathe… Losing consciousness…"

"Oops, sorry." Susan chuckled as she let her niece go, pinching one of her cheeks. "You're still as cute as ever."

"Auntie!" Ahn-Li whined when she heard the other monks and Dojo snickering. She cleared her throat. "Is Jake at home?"

Susan shook her head. "He and Haley are on the roof with your grandfather, training." She raised an eyebrow as she eyed the other monks and Dojo, planting a hand on her hip. "What are you up to, young lady?"

"I'll tell you later, Auntie." She promised, pushing her friends off the porch and towards the back alley. "Thanks."

As they went into the alley, they looked up at the fire escape. Ahn-Li turned to Raimundo. "Raimundo, think you can reach that?"

The Wind Dragon cracked his knuckles, smirking. "No sweat."

Using his natural acrobatic skill, he flipped himself up to the ladder and pulled it down. Ahn-Li came up next, followed by Clay. Omi took a grand leap over the ladder and onto the first platform. Kimiko rolled her eyes as she climbed up the ladder with Dojo. "Show off…"

Omi simply shrugged and smiled innocently. Ahn-Li practically galloped up the zig-zagging steps, the others struggling to keep up with her as she left them in the dust. "Ahn-Li!" Dojo called to her, bouncing on Kimiko's arm as she ran. "What's the rush?"

She was on the top level beside the roof, looking down at them as they came closer. "I don't wanna spoil it…" She smiled softly. "But let's just say you're about to see something _magical_."

Once again, they exchanged confused glances as the girl flipped herself over the edge of the roof. They at last reached the top level of the fire escape, exchanging confused glances with each other when they heard what sounded like a roar. Raimundo was the first one to peek his head over, only to have a stream of fire go straight past his head. "What the_—_" he looked again and his eyes widened, "Whoa."

Clay, Omi, Kimiko and Dojo came over next, having the same reaction as Raimundo.

Soaring through the sky, were three dragons. Two teenagers were cheering on the sidelines. One was a tall, gangly boy dressed in a skull cap, a long t-shirt and baggy pants. The other was an African American girl in a blue cropped hoodie and cargos, her hair up in two pigtails. Ahn-Li immediately ran over to them and they all shared a series of hugs and laughs and high-fives and noogies.

The monks' attention was still on the dragons in the sky. One was small and pink, black pigtails coming off of her head. Another was red and gold with spiky black hair slathered with green gel. The last was of pale blue and gold color, a white beard and moustache coming off of his face. There was a huge smile plastered on Ahn-Li's face as she looked up at him. She put her thumb and forefinger into her mouth and whistled up at them to get their attention. As they flew, the pink one suddenly gasped, looking to the blue one. "Grandpa, look!" she squealed as she pointed at the Light Dragon.

She dove out of the sky, heading straight for Ahn-Li. The lilac eyed girl simply opened her arms, smiling. The dragon suddenly turned into a small Chinese girl with pigtails and wearing a pink shirt and purple skirt, tackling Ahn-Li to the ground. "Ahn-Li! You're back!" she cried, nuzzling her cheek.

"Hi, Haley-poo." she greeted the small child as she stood up with the girl in her arms.

The monks' jaws dropped as the red and blue dragons repeated the action of the pink dragon, taking on a human form. Dojo simply seemed intrigued rather than shocked. The monks climbed over the edge of the roof as a short, elderly man in a traditional blue Chinese robe and a boy in a red shirt and blue shorts walked across it. "Hey Li-Li!" the boy called running towards her. Ahn-Li twitched at the name, side-stepping and sticking her foot out. The boy tripped, falling onto his face. "Ah man…" he groaned.

Haley giggled as Ahn-Li shook her head. "You never learn, do you, Jakey?" she asked with a grin.

"No, he doesn't." The African American girl laughed, patting Ahn-Li on the back.

"Ahem." Kimiko cleared her throat, calling her attention back to them.

Ahn-Li looked over at them for a moment and the a look of realization hit her. She rubbed the back of her head with one hand, holding the girl, Haley, in the other arm. "Right… Y'all probably want me to explain this?"

"Ya think?" Clay asked in response, grinning as he folded his arms over his chest.

She cleared her throat, smiling sheepishly. "These dragons are my family." She stood over the old man. "This is my grandfather, Luong Lao-Shi." she introduced him.

"It is an honor." He said, bowing.

She bent down and picked the boy's head up by his hair. "This dumb kid is my cousin, Jake Long, although some call him my twin."

He gave them a peace sign. "Wazzup?" he managed to say before Ahn-Li dropped him on his face again.

She pointed to the two teens standing beside her. "These two are my best friends; my man, Arthur 'Spud' Spudinski and my right-hand girl, Trixie Carter."

"Hey there, friends of Ahn-Li." Spud greeted them with a goofy, yet carefree grin.

"What's crackalatin'?" Trixie said with a wave.

"And this cutie is my little baby cousin, Haley." She huggled her with a squeal, an action very odd to her character. "Isn't she so, so precious?"

"Yeah," Jake murmured as he pushed himself up. "Until you actually get to know her-OW!" he yelped as his cousin's foot crashed down on his.

"And who are they, young one?" Lao-Shi questioned, looking up at her with a raised eyebrow.

Ahn-Li turned to her friends. "These are my friends, Kimiko Tohomiko, Clay Bailey, Raimundo Pedrosa, and Omi. The little green dragon is Dojo." She introduced, pointing to each one as she said their name. They simply waved, still in a bit of shock. "Can we go to your shop, Yeh-Yeh? I have something to tell you."

Lao-Shi raised an eyebrow at his granddaughter, then his eyes narrowed. "Zhè shì bù míngzhì de, niánqīng de."

Ahn-Li groaned, saying something to him in the same tongue. "_Dànshì, zhè shì fēicháng zhòngyào de, Yeh-Yeh."_

He pointed a finger at her, snapping. "_Bù yǔnxǔ wàirén. Nǐ zhīdào zhè yīdiǎn."_

She stomped her foot, whining and then pouting. "_Qǐng, Yeh-Yeh_."

Lao-Shi stared at her for a moment, and then sighed, a smile coming onto Ahn-Li's face. He began making his way to the fire escape and motioned for everyone to follow him. "Come."

Ahn-Li put Haley down and they all went back down the way the monks had gotten up. A few houses from the one they had stopped at earlier, there was an electronics shop. Lao-Shi pulled out a key, unlocking the door. He, Haley, Jake and Ahn-Li walked in first. A grey Shar Pei came out from the back room, trotting happily and seeming to be humming a song to himself. "Hey, Fu." Ahn-Li greeted him.

The dog's tail started wagging and he stood on his hind legs, making the monk's eyes go wide. He walked over to her, a wide smile on his wrinkled face. "Hey, kid! Nice to see you drop by out of routine." He nudged her leg with his elbow. "And boy do I have a great Jake story for you. Agoo-goo!"

"A talking dog?" Dojo said from behind Ahn-Li, staring at her. "You're just full of surprises, today, aren't you?"

Fu Dog looked around Ahn-Li to see Raimundo, Kimiko, Omi Clay, and Dojo wrapped around Kimiko's wrist. "Hey, what's with the talking newt?" he asked.

Ahn-Li rolled her eyes to the ceiling and smacked her forehead. "Fu…"

"Hey!" Dojo shouted angrily. "I am a dragon! _DRA! GON_!"

"Well excuuuuuse me if you do look like a newt!" Fu shouted back.

That vein on Ahn-Li's forehead was throbbing again and her eyes were burning. "SHUT UP! BOTH OF Y'ALL!" she yelled, making both creatures jump.

"Wait." Omi looked at her, scratching his head in confusion. "If you had a talking dog, why were you in so much shock when Dojo first spoke to you?"

"Good question." She replied as she rubbed her temple with her index and middle fingers. "Now, let's talk…"

In the back room, Haley had poured tea for everybody. The monks were huddled up on the couch. Ahn-Li and Trixie were sitting on its arm. Spud and Jake were on the floor between the table and the couch. Lao Shi was on a stool, slurping up some noodles. "There's no other way to say this, so I'll just say it straight out… I'm a dragon." she said with a blank face.

The room went silent. Fu Dog chuckled and walked over to her. "Kid, I know you envy your cousins, but now, you've gone off the deep end. Ay-goo." he said, patting her head.

Ahn-Li rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist, a small sphere of light forming in her hand. Fu Dog's eyes widened a little bit as he stared at it. "Deep end, my ass…" She cursed under her breath. The next thing she knew, a chopstick was flying into her forehead and she recoiled from the hit. "Aiya! Yeh-Yeh!" she cried, covering her forehead.

"_Bùyào màré_n." Lao-Shi scolded her, then nodded understandingly. "I had thought it was very odd when Wen told me you weren't a dragon." He said, smiling, "Congratulations."

Kimiko, who was seated next to Ahn-Li, looked up at her with wide blue eyes. "Wow, they really weren't surprised." she said, recalling what she had been told the day before.

"Wait." Haley broke in, turning to Lao-Shi. "I thought girls matured faster than boys."

"But I'm a different kind of dragon, Hales. I'm a _Dragon of the Elements_." She repeated Master Fung, putting her finger under her nose to mimic his mustache. "Light, to be exact."

"You know," Spud broke in, "All of this 'magical world' stuff seems to be getting more complicated as time goes by."

"I heard that." Trixie agreed.

"Who're they?" Jake asked his cousin, motioning to the monks sitting behind him.

"Kimiko, Clay, Rai_—_" she began the introduction again.

"No, young one." Lao-Shi interrupted her, "_Who_ are they?"

"Oh! Other Xiaolin Dragons, like me." She answered with the same easy-going tone as before. "They've actually been at the Temple for a lot longer than me." She pointed at Raimundo. "He's our leader."

Lao-Shi nodded once again, hopping out of his chair and going towards the bookshelf. "What's he doing?" Raimundo asked Ahn-Li.

She honestly was confused and simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Long ago, there was a battle between good and evil over the mystical items we in the magical community call Shen Gong Wu. The battle's positive outcome brought balance to the world as we know it, but should it shift, the Xiaolin Dragons will be the ones restore it."

All five of the Dragons' eyes went wide. Had he known the whole time? He returned to them with an old, yellowed book in hand and set it on the table. He opened it up and a transparent flame arose from the pages. "Fire." A wave crashed down upon it, dousing it. "Water." The wave pulled back to reveal a rocky shoreline. "Earth." A breeze picked up dust from the shore. "Wind." He looked at the four teenagers seated beside Ahn-Li. "Those are your elements, correct?"

"How did you know?" Omi asked in response.

Lao-Shi chuckled. "You pick up quite a bit when you are as ol_—_" He cleared his throat to drown out the last word, "I mean, as _well-experienced_ as I am."

"You never showed us this book before." Ahn-Li said, an accusatory edge to her voice.

"Yeah." Jake agreed, his face showing annoyance, "What's the deal, yo?"

"He _did_ show us." Haley said, grinning from ear to ear. "You two just don't pay attention whenever you're together."

Jake frowned at his younger sister, causing Ahn-Li and Trixie to laugh. Lao-Shi closed the book, taking the images with it. "You are currently here in search of a Shen Gong Wu, are you not?"

Clay nodded, tipping his hat. "That we are, sir." His hand moved to rub the back of his neck. "But it's inside the school up the road and we kinda can't get in."

"Which brings us to why we're here." Ahn-Li said, tapping the American Dragon on the head. "Jake, can you help your favorite cousin out?"

Jake looked at his cousin, smirking as he cracked his knuckles. "If I can sneak out of it, I can definitely sneak you into it." he said proudly.

Lao-Shi instantly gave him a sharp glare. "You sneak out of school?" he exclaimed.

"Let's go." Jake said quickly, zipping out the door.

Trixie and Spud were right behind him when Lao-Shi started to rant angrily in Chinese. Omi was the first to rise and bowed to Lao-Shi. "Thank you for your hospitality."

His mood changing instantly, Lao-Shi smiled and bowed in return. "It was my pleasure, young warrior."

Raimundo, Clay, Kimiko, Ahn-Li and Dojo followed him out to Jake, leaving Lao-Shi and Haley behind. The street lamps had been turned on and the colors of the city had come out, the fall air whipping around them as the many colors and hues painted them. As they walked, Raimundo looked over his shoulder at Ahn-Li. "How exactly are you two cousins?" he asked Ahn-Li and Jake.

"Jakey and Li's moms are sisters." Trixie explained as the two relatives nodded.

Kimiko raised an eyebrow, looking at Trixie. "You two must be really close." she said, regarding Trixie's nickname for Ahn-Li."

"Yup." The two girls touched knuckles, "Us girls gotta stick together, y'know."

"But," Ahn-Li walked over to Spud and hugged his arm tightly as she walked, a big gin on her face. "I'm just as close to Spuddy. Right, boyfriend?"

Raimundo's ear twitched at that last word and he turned to see the two friends smiling at each other, Ahn-Li hanging off of his arm. Spud nodded. "You got it, girlfriend." he replied with enthusiasm, patting her on the head.

Raimundo turned his attention back to the sidewalk in front of him, sucking his teeth quietly.

About a minute later, the came back to the school they had seen earlier. Jake bent down in front of the lock, examining it for a moment. "We were thinkin' 'bout usin' the vents to get in earlier." Clay explained.

Jake shrugged. "You could do that. Or…" His hand turned into dragon claws. "Or you could let the American Dragon handle it." He stuck one of his claws into the lock and carefully picked at it, stirring it open with a light click. "Bam, we're in."

The sneaky teenagers walked into the school, Dojo slithering on the floor as he sniffed out the Shen Gong Wu. He led them through the unfamiliar building, right into the music room. There were closed cased strewn all around the room. "Well, that figures…" Kimiko mumbled.

"Break apart, my friends." Omi suggested. "It will be easier to find that way."

They eight of them spilt up, picking an area of the room. Ahn-Li had gone into the storage closet to check the unused inventory. She was checking the shelves closest to the door when she caught sight of Raimundo and Kimiko talking as they searched. They looked so easy-going with each other. Kimiko suddenly giggled and punched Raimundo in the arm. "Rai, you're so stupid!"

She frowned and turned back to the instrument cases, putting her focus into looking for the Flute. She moved to another part of the room lined with flute cases. She reached up towards one of the cases. She actually had to push herself onto her tiptoes to barely touch it with her index finger. A moment later, a tanned hand rose over hers and grabbed the case. Turning her head slightly, Ahn-Li saw Raimundo directly behind her. "I'll take the ones up here." He told her.

Ahn-Li bent down into a crouch and started looking on the lower shelves. A somewhat awkward silence hung in the large closet, the occasional opening of the flute cases breaking it. Raimundo cleared his throat, getting Ahn-Li's attention. "You and Spud seem to pretty close."

"Yeah." She smiled to herself as she closed a case, setting it to the side. "I love him to death."

"So, are you guys like…?" He shrugged, pulling down another case. "You know…"

She looked at him with a bit of shock, surprised he would even ask that. Then, she giggled. "It's not like that, Rai. It's a best friend kind of love." She opened another case, shaking her head. "Jeez, jealous much?"

Raimundo froze for a moment, and then scoffed at the notion. "Me, jealous? No way." He said, waving the accusation away casually.

"Whatever you say…" She taunted him, then sighed, muttering under her breath. "I wonder what Kimiko would say to that? You hitting on me and all."

"You wish_—_Wait a sec, Kimiko?" He looked down at her. "She's, like, my best friend so we're usually together, but we aren't _together_-together, though.

Ahn-Li smiled a little upon hearing that, letting out a little breath of relief. Raimundo heard the quiet noise and looked down at her, a little smirk on his face. He bent down into a crouch, now putting himself level with her. "Why? Was someone a little _green-eyed_ or something?" She rolled her eyes at him, turning away. This only encouraged the prankster Dragon and he laughed, making no effort to hide it. "Oh my God! You were!"

"In your dreams." She snapped, rising to her feet with Raimundo reflecting the action.

He folded his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall in front of her, the smirk growing wider. "Oh, come on."

She placed her hands on her hips. "I was_—_" She shook her head pointing a finger at him. "I _am _not jealous."

"I'm not saying you are," He said, raising his eyebrows at her. "Just that you were."

"Ha!" She scoffed, as though she were amused. "I was not."

"But you were."

Her eyebrow ticked. "Was not."

"You were." His voice remained casual.

"Was_ not_!" Ahn-Li's voice raised an octave.

Raimundo simply chuckled and unfolded his arms, poking the center of her forehead with his index finger. "You were so."

"You were jealous first!" She shouted without thinking, just wanting to win the argument.

His smirk threatened to take over his face when he heard that. He leaned towards her as he stroked his chin, mimicking thought. "Ah… so, you were jealous at one point then."

"Of course I_—_" Ahn-Li put her hand over her mouth, her cheeks flushing straight red when she realized she had just been tricked. Raimundo shrugged his shoulders, playing innocent. She glared at him and started smacking him, which only made him chuckle. "You're not funny, Raimundo!"

"Found it!" They heard Clay shout from the main room.

Ahn-Li stopped hitting Raimundo, only to turn on her heel so fast that her hair hit him in the nose. Raimundo just grinned, following her out so that they could rejoin the others. Clay was holding a shining aqua-colored flute with red rose petal designs on it. "This is it?" Jake asked, eyeing it.

Dojo, whose blisters had disappeared, nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "My scales are clear, so that must be it."

"It's kind of pretty." Kimiko commented, tracing the Flute with her finger.

Ahn-Li looked at Clay. "Let me see that for a sec."

Clay handed it to her so she could examine it when suddenly a blue beam hit her hand. It shocked her so badly that she ended up throwing it into the air. Jack Spicer suddenly flew in with his helipack, catching the Shen Gong Wu with ease. "I'll take that!" He yelled, flying out the door and into the hall.

"After him!" Omi cried, leading the group out into the hall.

Jack turned his head to see everyone running after him and smirked, pressing a button on his watch. "Jack-bots, do your stuff!" he ordered before speeding up.

Twelve robots came from the opposite direction, sharp blades coming out of their sides. Everyone got into their ready stances, including the American Dragon. "Dragon up!" Jake shifted to his dragon form and let out a fearsome roar. He then opened his wings, going into the air and looked down at Ahn-Li, Kimiko and Trixie. "Let the guys handle this. Li-Li, you and the girls catch Make-up Boy."

Ahn-Li froze, and then pointed a finger at her cousin. "_Don't_ call me, Li-Li!"

Trixie's eyes narrowed at Jake and she took a step back, joining the boys. She nodded her head to the Xiaolin Dragon girls. "Li, you two go ahead. I'm gonna show these boys what chicks are made of."

Kimiko and Ahn-Li nodded and then dashed after the self-proclaimed boy genius.

Clay grabbed one of the Jack-bots by the top of the head and threw it to the floor, giving it a swift punch that went straight through it. Omi jumped into the air and chopped two of them in half, drop-kicking another as he came back to the ground. A robot shot at Raimundo and he flipped out of the way of the beams, allowing it to destroy another Jack-bot before he sprang himself off of the wall, punching its head clear off. Jake took a deep breath, fire coming out of his mouth and burning three of them to a crisp. A robot came towards Trixie and, using her gymnastics skills, she flipped into the air with one leg extended, slicing it down the middle. Two of them came towards Spud from different directions, but he stood still, even as their speed increased. As they nearly sandwiched the boy, he ducked and they crashed into each other. Clay held his hands out and Omi jumped into him, the cowboy vaulting him into the air to kick the last robot standing.

Jake turned back into a human again, landing beside the others. They looked around at the dismantled robot pieces around them, smiling with satisfaction at her words. Omi then took off running again. "Come, my friends! The girls may need our help!"

"Against Spicer?" Clay asked with a grin as they all sped down the hallway. "I'd be more worried 'bout him."

Further down the hall, Jack was flying towards the entrance in hopes of making his escape. Kimiko and Ahn-Li were right behind him, almost in his shadow as they ran. Jack looked over his shoulder at them, grimacing. He turned back around, speeding up and pulling farther ahead. Ahn-Li let out a groan, looking at Kimiko out of the corner of her eye. "We're not gonna catch him, so long as he's airborne." She griped.

Kimiko gave a quick nod in agreement, her lips turning up in a mischievous grin. Her hand ignited, a fireball now bouncing on her fingertips. "Then I guess we have to bring him down, huh?" she quipped.

Ahn-Li shared the same look as her companion, a shocking streak of light revolving around her hand. "My thoughts exactly."

As Jack prepared to round a corner, their attacks hit him right in the afterburners. He spiraled out of control, screaming that girlish scream of his. He ended up falling through the doors of the school gym and the Flute of the Spirit flew out of his hand as he bounced across the floor.

Ahn-Li saw the Wu slide to the center of the gym and immediately sprinted for it. Kimiko stopped in the doorway, her eyes resting upon Jack as he pushed himself up and made a mad dash for the Wu himself. Kimiko quickly reached into her backpack for her Shen Gong Wu. "Heads up, Ahn-Li!" she shouted, throwing one of them across the room.

Ahn-Li looked up to see the Lotus Twister being thrown over to her. She caught it as she ran, then dove across the newly waxed floor to the Shen Gong Wu, touching it with her foot. It suddenly started to glow, which confused her a bit. Then she saw Jack's hand touching it and it all clicked together. She was about to participate in a Xiaolin Showdown.

A smug smile crossed the redhead's face and he snickered, pointing at Ahn-Li. "New girl…"

"Ahn-Li!" Kimiko shouted the correction across the room.

He turned to stick his tongue out at her and then turned back to Ahn-Li. "_Ahn-Li_, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown." He reached into his pocket, fishing out his bargaining chip. "My Shroud of Shadows for your Lotus Twister."

The other Xiaolin Dragons along with the American Dragon team came in at this time, stopping in the doorway to look at the scene before him. Omi leaned over to Kimiko. "What did we miss?" he asked.

"Jack just challenged Ahn-Li to a Xiaolin Showdown for the Flute." She replied, pointing over to them.

"A Xiaolin what-now?" the three New Yorkers asked together.

"It's kinda like a double dare." Clay explained to them. "See, each one of them puts up a Shen Gong Wu to bet on a contest. Whoever called the showdown makes up the challenge."

"Whoever wins the showdown gets all three Wu." Raimundo continued, "And the loser doesn't get diddly."

Jack was looking around for something to prompt a suitable challenge. In the corner of the gym, he caught sight of a cart full of red rubber balls and he smirked, finding his challenge. If there was anything Jack was good at, it was running away. "Sweet." He turned back to Ahn-Li. "The game is dodge ball. First to get hit by a ball loses."

"You got it, Mama's Boy." She accepted it, swerving her neck.

"I am _not_ a mama's boy!" he whined, then his face turned serious. "Let's go! Xiaolin showdown!"

**Ana: Zzz… (asleep on the couch)**

**Raimundo: Shh…**

**Chase: Trust me, it's best not to wake her.**


	6. First Showdown

**Ana: Well here's the Showdown. But I'm still sick, dammit! And I had to go to the the doctor to get shots! I hate doctors!**

**Chase: Calm down. **

**Ana: Fine. On with the story.**

******Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown or American Dragon, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**  


Chapter 6: First Showdown

The gym much to Ahn-Li and her New York clan's surprise began to morph. The ground rumbled the floor separated from it and everything was becoming larger. The walls had separated into columns with holes in them, the perfect size for shooting dodge balls. The bleachers had elevated and detached themselves from the floor, giving the monks, Dojo, Trixie, Jake and Spud a perfect view of the playing field. The gym lights brightened to reveal that Ahn-Li, like the other monks, was wearing blue armor with the symbol for Light in the middle. She look herself over, whistling. "Wow, neat outfit."

"Gong Yi Tampai!" Jack shouted, beginning the battle.

In thundering booms, dodge balls started shooting out of the walls towards the two opponents. "Lotus Twister!"

Ahn-Li stretched like a rubber band twisted around a few of the dodge balls. She then snapped back into the place and put her own acrobatic skills to use, flipping and ducking between the balls. "I didn't know girls could play dodge ball." Omi said.

Kimiko and Trixie's faces instantly contorted into fiery glares as they looked at Omi. Then they turned their attention back to the showdown.

Though despite the fact that she was winning, her body was paying the price. She flinched a little bit in her landing as she did a backflip. _I can't keep this up forever. My body can't take this…_ She smirked beneath her mask. _Time to step up my game._

Ahn-Li pushed herself into a handstand, opening her legs into a y-shape as a dodge ball flew overhead. "Super Nova Flare:Light!"

The floor beneath her palms glowed yellow and then a pulsating current traveled through the cracks between the floorboards. As soon as it made it to Jack's feet, the ground beneath him abruptly exploded. With a scream, the redheaded boy flew into the air. Having gotten the edge she needed, the Dragon of Light turned back onto her feet and went back to fending for herself.

Jack turned his heli-pack on just in time to evade his certain doom via a dodge ball to the face. He glared down at his opponent and whipped out his Shen Gong Wu. "Shroud of Shadows!" he shouted.

He wrapped himself in the cloak and, in an instant, turned invisible. "Uh-oh." Jake muttered.

Ahn-Li looked around as she dodged, trying to think of where he could have possibly gone. Jack pulled her foot and made her fall backwards towards the floor, giving her barely enough time to catch herself with the palms of her hands. A bright red ball flew towards her. She quickly curved her body into the bridge position and the ball flew beneath her. Jack laughed and pulled off the Shroud, making himself known and going back into , Ahn-Li got and idea, "Lotus Twister!"

She twisted her now rubbery limbs into a ball shape and bounced on the floor a couple of times. After she got the feeling for her new shape, she beamed herself at the wall and bounced towards Jack, who had his back turned at the time. She hit him square in the back and the Showdown ended. Ahn-Li stood, holding the Shen-Gong-Wu in her arms and nodding. "Nice."

Jack stood up, starting to throw a tantrum. "Hey, you totally cheated, you little Albino!" he complained, nearly whining.

Ahn-Li raised on of her thin eyebrows; like he was anyone to call anyone else an Albino. "Excuse me? All you said was 'first to get hit with a ball loses,' you never specified which one it had to be."

"Cool loophole, Li-Li." Jake praised his cousin, throwing her a thumbs-up.

Ahn-Li turned her head to him slowly, her eyes flaring as she crouched. "Enough. With!" Spud and Trixie grabbed her arms and held her back before she could pounce on Jake, "The Li-Li!"

"You think he would've learned by now." Spud said, sighing.

After calming down a bit with the help of Spud and Trixie, Ahn-Li handed the Wu to Kimiko, who put them in her backpack. The kids all made their way out the front doors. Ahn-Li and Raimundo were the last ones to get there. As she prepared to open the door, though, he grabbed her hand, tugging her back. She turned around to look at him, blinking in confusion. "Rai, what's up?"

"I wanna ask you something."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Okay…"

He raised a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it anxiously. "I'm kind of uneasy about this but, I was wondering if you'd like to go out. Like dinner and a walk, or something like that…"

She raised an eyebrow. "You mean like a date?" He nodded. Her eyes widened, and she took a breath as she realized what he was asking. "You're… you're asking me out?"

"Yeah."

She just stared at him for a moment, not saying anything. "Actually…" she started to say.

Raimundo let out a sigh, letting go of her hand. "Yeah, it was a stupid question." He said, turning away from her as he began to ramble "If you don't want to, that's understandable. You're probably not the dating type."

Her eyebrow ticked again and she let out a frustrated sigh. "Will you shut up and let me finish?" she cut him off, "I was actually hoping you would ask me ou—" She stopped herself mid-sentence, "Um, I mean… That is…"

Her cheeks turned a brilliant shade of crimson and she turned away from him. Raimundo looked at her. Even in the dark, he could see the red standing out against her pale cheeks. He put his head on her shoulder, a playful smile on his face. "Is that a yes?" She nodded silently, Raimundo's smile widening. "Great. So, Friday at seven?"

"…Cool." She replied in a quiet voice.

"Cool."

Raimundo turned and clenched his fist proudly, opening the door with his other hand. They both came out of the building, walking down the street and back to Jake's house. Raimundo couldn't help but laugh at Ahn-Li's reddened cheeks. Embarrassed and not knowing what else to do, she punched him in the arm, surprising him greatly. "Ow!" He shouted as he looked down at her, seeing her fold her arms over her chest. "What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm.

"Sorry. My hand must've slipped." She said, wearing what looked to be a pout.

He simply smiled and pressed his hand to the top of her head. "Whatever you say." He said, flipping her earlier words back on her.

**Ana: Finally! I have updated it at last. Please review. Hasta!**


	7. PreDate PJ Party

**Dragon Ana: Stupid allergies! Stupid exams! Stupid homework! Stupid brother! STUPID EVERYTHING! UGH!**

**Chase: Ana. (points to audience)**

**Ana: Oh… Konnichiwa! Sorry about my little angry outburst. I'm kinda pissed about how overworked I've been lately. That's why it's taking me so long to update. On the plus side, I'm all better, but I'll probably be sick again soon. Details are in my profile. But wow! Chapter 7, huh? I've written a lot. After consulting with Ayu-chan, I decided to push the date to next chapter. This chapter's -**

**Chase: (slaps his hand over Ana's mouth) You just like to hear yourself talk don't you?**

**Ana: Now that you mention it, yeah. I do. (runs her tongue across his palm)**

**Chase: … YOU ARE A _VILE _LITTLE THING, ANATONIA BARCELONA!**

**Ana: Moving right along… I was only gonna say that this chapter's long and was a pain to write, but oh, well. On with the show! (looks at mortified/enraged Chase) Oh, you'll be fine.**

******Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown or American Dragon, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**  


Chapter 7: Pre-Date PJ Party

The next day was Wednesday. Jake and Ahn-Li had arranged for the other Xiaolin Dragons to attend school with them while they were in New York, so they could all still hang out. And so, teens were getting ready for the day, all except the self-proclaimed "crack-of-noon" Dragon of the Wind.

Kimiko had her hair dyed blonde and was wearing a pink t-shirt and blue jeans. She was making her way downstairs when she passed into the bedroom where Raimundo was to wake him up. She nudged him. "Raimundo, it's morning." She shook him a little. "Wake up." He didn't budge. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shifted him into a sitting position, shaking him harder. "Rai!"

"Hey, Kimi." Ahn-Li cheered, entering the room in an Atlanta Dawgs jersey dress with skinny jeans and her famous hat in her hand.

Kimiko's face immediately brightened and she smiled at her friend. "Good morning." It quickly shifted into a frown again as she turned back to Raimundo, shaking him back and forth vigorously, "Raimundo! Wake! Up!"

"Five more hours…" Raimundo mumbled, his head falling backwards.

"Ugh!" She groaned with exasperation, throwing her hands in the air and letting him fall back on the bed.

"Jake and Jing the same way…" Ahn-Li said, putting her hat on. She walked over to the bed and grinned."Kimi, let me show you how I do it, okay? Oh, you might want to cover your ears."

Kimiko's head tilted to the side. "Huh? But why would I—"

She leaned down and pulled the blanket back, exposing Raimundo's ear. "Raimundo! Santa came last night and didn't leave you anything!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, which was pretty loud.

Raimundo's eyes shot open and he fell out of the bed with a shout. He sat up on the floor, panting. "Jeez, man, I think I've just gone deaf…" He looked up at her, glaring. "And what the hell? It's November!"

"Don't start complaining, now." Ahn-Li scolded him, pointing a finger at him. "I'm in a guest room because I let you sleep in _my_ room last night."

"No, you're in a guest room 'cause you suck at Rock, Paper, Scissors, remember?" Raimundo pointed out, rising to his feet.

"Well, I didn't argue about it and actually let you."

"No, you were complaining about it through dinner."

"Maybe I should've covered my ears…" Kimiko said, shaking her head. "I never knew you could be so loud."

"Anyways!" Ahn-Li tucked her hands behind her head and began walking out of the room. "Come on, people, let's move. I'm hungry."

"Um, when are you not hungry?" Raimundo asked, cracking his back.

She poked her head back into the room. "When I'm done eating. Let's go."

Raimundo and Kimiko laughed as they followed her downstairs. After breakfast, the kids went to school. Dojo didn't come since they already had the Wu they were looking for.

At school, they say in Sun Park's home economics class. All of them were making soufflés in pairs, Trixie and Ahn-Li, Jake and Spud, Raimundo and Clay, Omi and Kimiko. "Now add a teaspoon of nutmeg and mix it in." Sun instructed, "Alright, pour it into the pan and put it in the oven for twenty minutes."

They all put their soufflés in the oven and waited. Ahn-Li took out a dance magazine. "Hey, Li." Trixie said.

"Hm?"

"I talked to my mom yesterday and she said you, me and Kimiko could have a sleepover tomorrow."

Ahn-Li's eyes lit up. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's a three-day weekend, right? Let's make it a girl's weekend."

"Hey, can Rose come too?" She asked, her eyes hopeful. "I know y'all aren't best friends or anything, but I'm going to be visiting even less than I did before. I want to hang with all of you before I leave the Big Apple."

Trixie shrugged, smiling in compliance. "Hey, whatever. Besides, more people, better party. We could watch a couple of movies, order some pizza and y'know, just talk. It'll be fun."

"And what will be so fun?" Sun asked.

She was standing right in front of the girls. "Uh, nothing." they answered.

"Nothing?" She smirked down at them. "Well, maybe you girls should focus less on talking and more on cooking."

"Snap! The soufflé!" Trixie cried, running to the oven.

They ran over to the oven, and pulled it out quickly. It was a little more golden than the others, but not burnt. Sun inspected it carefully. Then went around and did the same with the others. "Good. It seems that these soufflés are satisfactory. Now there's only one thing left to do."

"And what would that be?" Omi asked.

Sun pulled out forks for all of them, grinning from ear to ear. "Eat your masterpieces."

"Woo! My favorite subject! Clay exclaimed.

Spud took a bite of his and Jake's, "Mmm… Spud-alicious."

"I helped make it, too. Gimme some of that." Jake said as he took a large forkful.

"A little slice of heaven." Raimundo said.

The shrill bell rang, signaling that the class was over. "Class dismissed." Sun said, waving the students off.

It was lunch time now. Every student in the school was packed into the cafeteria, getting lunch or chatting, or doing both simultaneously. Ahn-Li walked across the cafeteria to a blonde girl with bright blue eyes and what looked like a dragon shaped tattoo on her right palm. Though, it was actually a birthmark. "Hey, Rosie." She greeted the girl from behind, "Guess who?"

The girl, Rose, turned around, her eyes widening in shock and excitement. "Ahn-Li? Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed as she stood up to hug her, "It's been forever. How are you?"

"Still holding up, I guess." She replied, leaning against the table. "Listen, me and my, uh…" She glanced over at the monks, Rose following her gaze with a curious glint in her azure hues. "Cousins! Yeah. We'll only be here for a few days and Trixie's going to be having a sleepover tomorrow. Are you in?"

Rose thought for a moment, looking at Ahn-Li's pleading lilac eyes and her puppy dog face. She smiled wide with a little laugh, giving her a light punch on the arm. "Count on it."

"Great!" Ahn-Li cheered, pumping her fist and turning on her heel. "Okay, so we'll see you tomorrow, then."

She went back over to the table the others had claimed earlier, where Trixie was telling Kimiko about the weekend plans. "That's a great idea." she agreed, "It'd be nice to get away from the guys for once for a change."

"That's what I'm sayin', girl!" Trixie stated.

Ahn-Li sat on the edge of the table, "Hey. I just talked to Rose."

"Miss Nguyen!" A Bavarian accented voice shouted from behind her.

Ahn-Li turned to smile at him. "Why, hello, Professor Rotwood!"

"Principal! Principal Rotwood!" He corrected her, pointing his ruler at her, then tapping the table, "I would appreciate it if your glutteous maximus was not on the table."

Her inner cheeky nature kicked in and she grinned. "And I would appreciate it if your glutteous wasn't so maximus." She said with a wink.

"I will let that one slide… But only because that is my wish as well." Rotwood growled, walking away while self-consciously covering his buttocks. "Carry on!"

Trixie, Kimiko and Ahn-Li all laughed at that, then Ahn-Li continued what she had been saying earlier. "Anyway, Rose said she'll be there."

"Awesome." Kimiko said, giving her a thumbs-up.

"And the beauty part is, no boys."

"Who says we wanna hang around you girls anyway?" Clay asked from across the table.

"Yeah, go on and have your dumb sleepover." Raimundo stated.

"We will." Trixie said, smirking. "Have fun with your fan club, Raimundo."

"We love you, Raimundo!" a group of girls shouted, holding up a large sign.

Raimundo hung his head with a sigh. Earlier in the day, Raimundo had been spotted by the female population, most of which nearly melted at his appearance. Before lunch time, they had already organized a fan club for him, which he, surprisingly enough, did not like. In fact, it was starting to creep him out a bit.

Another bell rang, this one signalling that school was over for the day. That afternoon, Trixie and Spud came over to Jake's house to play video games, meaning that all of the teens would be hanging out together. That was the usual thing for the three of them, whenever Jake had a spare moment. Jake and Spud were currently going at it. "Game over." the game said, "Player 2 wins."

"Yes!" Spud shouted victoriously, "You cannot defeat Grand Master Spud!"

"You just got lucky, I'm telling you." Jake said indignantly, standing up and pointing to his seat. "Trixie, you're up."

Trixie eagerly hopped over the couch to where Jake had just been sitting. "Spud, prepare to move to Loser Ville." She warned the lanky teen.

Ahn-Li was sitting on the carpet currently teaching Kimiko how to play Slide. It was a game she had learned when she was a young girl, before the ridiculing from her peers started. "This game's usually pretty fast once you get how it works." she explained, "But we'll start slow, for now."

"Did you play this a lot back home in Atlanta?" Kimiko asked.

"You bet I did! Slide was one of my favorite games. Double Dutch—some of the other girls did it—was… A disaster."

The two girls laughed and continued on with their game. Raimundo was leaning against the wall by the kitchen when Jake passed by. "Jake." He called him, nodding his head towards the kitchen.

Both boys walked into the kitchen. Raimundo leaned back against the counter with a sigh. "What's up?" Jake asked, pouring himself some punch from the pitcher on the table.

"Well," Raimundo started, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Last night, after the showdown, I may've asked Ahn-Li out."

Jake nearly spit out his drink when he heard that. The other boy watched as he coughed roughly, trying to clear his throat. "Say what with you and Li-Li?" he asked after he could breathe properly again.

"I asked her out." Raimundo said with a bit more confidence.

"Wow…" Jake chuckled lightly, "Congrats on being the first guy to have the guts to do it."

"Uh… thanks?" he responded, unsure of how to take that comment. "Anyway, she's your cousin. You think you could, y'know help me out here?"

Jake set his cup down on the and clapped his hands together. "Okay, there are a couple things you gotta know. First off, you might not belive this, but Li-Li's actually a big fan of plants. She loves 'em."

"Plants?" Raimundo looked over at Ahn-Li, raising an eyebrow. "She likes plants?"

"See? You didn't believe it. Her favorite plant is the white rose and she loves to dance and she's pretty good at it. Her favorite food is spaghetti. Actually, she kinda likes any kind of pasta. Scratch that, any food in general." Jake said, smiling as he continued, "And also…"

Clay and Omi were sitting behind the couch. Clay was trying to teach the yellow monk how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. Well, reteach him how to. They tried to do this before, but it had not been working. The two banged their fists in their palms and then took their positions. Omi had rock and Clay had paper. "Ah-ha! I win!" Omi cheered.

Clay shook his head. "No. Paper covers rock, little buddy." Clay explained.

Omi titled his head in confusion. "But, if it is a sharp rock, wouldn't the paper rip?" he asked innocently, blinking up at the cowboy.

Clay sighed. He had been asked questions like that for a little while. "Let's go again."

Around the indistinct sounds of the different kids' conversations were the clicking of the locks. The door opened and Susan, Hayley and another man with brown hair and glasses in a brown suit walked inside. "Hi, kids." Susan greeted them.

"Hey, Mom and Dad." Jake greeted them from the kitchen.

"Uncle Jonathan!" Ahn-Li jumped up mid-Slide and hugged the man tightly .

He laughed, giving her a bear hug in return and twirling her around. "Hey there, little Ahn-Li!"

Ahn-Li turned to her fellow Dragons, tugging Jonathan inside. "Guys, this is my uncle, Jonathan Long. Uncle, these are my friends Kimiko Tohomiko, Clay Bailey, Raimundo Pedrosa, and Omi."

"Pleasure to meet you all." He ruffled his niece's hair hard. "Thanks for taking care of little Linguine here."

"Uncle…" Ahn-Li whined.

Kimiko bit her lip as to avoid laughing at Ahn-Li's nickname. The boys, however, were not so courteous and fell into fits of laughter. Ahn-Li then turned her attention to Susan. "Auntie, can Kimiko and I go home with Trixie tomorrow?" she asked.

"I don't see why not." Susan replied, "As long as it's okay with Trixie's mother."

"My mom's cool with it." Trixie assured her.

"Then it's fine with me. That being settled, who wants chicken?"

"I do!" everyone said.

"Ain't nothin' like some good, finger-lickin' chicken!" Clay said, the first one with a plate.

After eating, they resumed the games. Trixie and Ahn-Li were upside-down on the couch. The little brip-brip-brip sounds of the video game characters could be heard throughout the house. "Game over." the game announcer said, "Player 1 wins."

"Whoo!" came Ahn-Li's victory cry as she jumped to her feet.

"Two outta three!" Trixie demanded.

"You're going to lose again, but whatever."

Just then, Susan came over to the couch, her car keys in hand. "Trixie, Spud, it's time for me to take you guys home."

"Already?" Spud asked.

"Spud, you've been here for, like, four hours." Jake reminded him, plopping onto the couch beside Ahn-Li.

"Man, I was hoping to beat Li before we left." Trixie groused, getting up.

Ahn-Li stuck her tongue out at her playfully. "Well, keep hoping."

"See y'all tomorrow." Clay waved over his shoulder.

Spud waved back, "Yeah. Hasta, buddy."

As soon as they had walked out the door, Ahn-Li let out a heavy yawn. "Someone can take my spot. I'm goin' to bed." she said as she got up, making her way towards the chair. "Good night."

"Yeah. I'm beat too." Kimiko stood up to leave with her, "Night, guys."

Kimiko and Ahn-Li went up to their room and took turns using the shower before getting into their pajamas. Afterwards, they were sitting by the open window looking out at the night sky. "Hey, look." Kimiko pointed at the moon. "The moon's almost full."

"It'll probably be full by Friday." She shuffled in excitement. "I've always loved full moons."

"Well, I guess that's because you're the Dragon of Light." Kimiko turned her head in Ahn-Li's direction. "Wait, what happens on Friday?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow, Kimi." Ahn-Li answered with a smile, closing the window and climbing into the large bed. "Good night."

"Alright then." Kimiko climbed in on the other side, "Good night."

The next day was Thursday, the day before the date. At school, Rotwood was going on about how the students should use the three-day-weekend wisely. "In addition, rather than just fooling around like the hooligans you are, take the time to get a jump-start on your research reports. Its completion weighs _heavily_ on your final grade of the semester, after all."

The kids all murmured little complaints and loud groanings. "Why should we care?" Ahn-Li asked the monks with a scoff, her feet propped up on the desk. "It's not like we're gonna be here long enough to turn in the assignment anyway."

Rotwood slammed a notebook down on her desk, the loud noise making her jump a bit. "What was that Miss Nguyen? Another one of your cheeky little comments? Hahah… I'll fix that." He turned to the class again, "Change in plans, class. Instead of the planned assignment—"

The bell rang in the middle of his sentence. The class jumped up from their seats and darted out of the classroom yelling, "Three-day-weekend!"

At lunch, the boys and girls were sitting on opposite ends of the table as they had been the day before. Kimiko was sitting beside Ahn-Li, squirming in her seat as she tried to get her fellow Dragon to tell her what was so special about Friday. "Ahn-Li, come on. You said you'd tell me today so spill already!" she prodded.

"I did say I'd tell you today." Ahn-Li replied, smirking, "I never said _when_ today I'd tell you."

"Then when?" Kimiko was brimming with curiosity.

"Later." Ahn-Li answered, putting a finger to her lips as if to say it was a secret.

"It's probably something big, knowin' Li. I say we wait." Trixie said, grinning.

Over on the boys' end of table, they were discussing where Raimundo was going to go on the date. Raimundo was sitting with his elbow propped on the table and his chin in his hand. "Honestly, I have no idea where we're gonna go." he said to the other boys. "Like I said, I didn't even think she'd say yes."

"You still haven't decided?" Clay asked, "Aren't you going out with 'er tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but you're acting as if she's one of those easy to read people." He ran his other hand through his hair. "I dunno what kind of place she'd be into."

"If there's one word to describe Li-Li, it's definitely not predictable." Jake agreed.

"She probably will not care." Omi said, reaching over to pat Raimundo on the head with an innocent smile on his face. "If she is going out with _you_, I'm sure it will not matter."

"…" He turned to look at Omi, "Your complimenting skills need serious work, Omi."

All the while, Spud had been sitting quietly, staring into space and tapping his chin as he thought. He knew Ahn-Li's preferences almost as well as Jake did, the two of them being best friends and all. "I got it!" He exclaimed, surprising the other boys. "You should take her to that Italian place on 17th."

A smile started to form on Jake's face and he smacked himself on the forehead lightly. "Of course!" he agreed, nodding his head, "Li-Li always did say she wanted to try it."

Clay gave Raimundo a slap on the back. "Well, there ya go, Rai. Problem solved."

After the final bell, the girls ran excitably to the exit. "End of the day, start of the partay!" Trixie shouted.

"Rose said she'll be along a little bit later." Kimiko reminded them.

Ahn-Li wrapped her arms around her friends' shoulders as they walked out the door, "Bye, guys. And see you tomorrow, Raimundo."

"See ya, Li-Li!" Jake called.

"_Jacob Luke Long_, for the millionth time…" She jumped into the air to tackle him, but was caught by the arms and dragged away with much effort by Kimiko and Trixie. "Stop calling me Li-Li!"

"Love you, too!" he teased her.

The girls were now walking to Trixie's. Kimiko was growing impatient waiting for Ahn-Li to say what she had to say. "Ahn-Li, you have been wearing that smile all day. It's later! Tell me!"

"Calm down, Kimiko. When Rose shows up, I'll tell, kay?"

"Fine, fine." Kimiko said, waving her hand and waving off the subject for now.

Trixie took out her keys and opened the door to her apartment. The girls all took off their shoes and put their backpacks down. They were on their way to the kitchen for a snack when they heard a loud voice from upstairs. "Hey Trixay! You hungry? Y'all want somethin' to eat?"

"Nah! We're straight, Gramma!" Trixie yelled back up the stairs.

"I'm so glad Nai-Nai isn't like that." Ahn-Li said, pulling a cookie out of the cookie jar. "My sister takes care of the loudness, though."

"Wait a sec," Kimiko cut in, "You have a sister?" She put her hands on her hips. "You told me about the rest of your family but you left out your sister?"

"It must have slipped my mind, but yeah." She said with a shrug. "I do have a little sister. Her name's Jing, but I call her 'Thing'. She's an annoying brat, but I have to admit I'm a little jealous of her."

"How come?" Kimiko asked.

"For one thing, she actually looks like the rest of the family. Black hair, brown eyes, normal skin. Now take a look at me." She gestured to herself. "Purple eyes and skin as pale as flour. I don't think Albinos are on a guys' list of good qualities. She may be four years younger, but wow… is she lucky."

"We've got to do something about your-self confidence. Any guy who doesn't know that inner beauty matters most doesn't deserve your time." Kimiko told her with a snap of her fingers, "And, besides, you're actually really, really pretty, Ahn-Li."

Ahn-Li cracked a half-smile at that. "Thanks, Kimiko."

The door opened again and Trixie's mom came in carrying a lot of groceries. "Need a hand, Mrs. Carter?" Kimiko asked.

"Thanks very much." Mrs. Carter said, smiling in appreciation.

"Thanks for letting us come over Mrs. C." Ahn-Li said, taking a couple of bags.

"It's my pleasure, girls. Just tell me when you're hungry and I'll call in a pizza."

"Will do, Mom." Trixie replied.

"Good."She leaned over and kissed her daughter. "You girls have fun, now."

Mrs. Carter left the girls downstairs to set things up. "Rose is taking forever." Trixie complained as she and Kimiko moved the table across the room.

"Can't you just tell us now and tell her later?" Kimiko asked hopefully.

"No. Just wait. She'll be here." Ahn-Li assured them, coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of chips. Almost immediately after she said that, the doorbell rang. "Told you."

Kimiko opened the door to reveal the blonde girl standing in the door way with a dufflebag thrown over her shoulder. "Hey. Sorry I'm late." She apologized and walked into the living room with the rest of the girls.

Kimiko looked over at Ahn-Li rather expectantly, urging her to fulfill her end of the bargain. "Alrighty." Ahn-Li sighed, "Now that everyone's here, I can get this over with. Rose, just to clear this up, the others aren't really me and Jake's cousins."

"That was sort of a no-brainer." Rose said with a knowing smile.

"Back to the main thing. Yesterday evening, uh… um, Raimundoaskedmeout…" Ahn-Li muttered the last part, her cheeks going light pink.

"Huh?"

"Raimundo asked me out." Her voice was still low.

Kimiko cupped her ear with one hand, "What?"

"Rai asked me out, alright?" She repeated clearly, folding her arms over her chest, "Happy now?"

"Good for you, Li." Trixie congratulated her.

"No!" She shook her head. "Bad for me. Very bad for me. This is my first date."

"First? As in very first?" Rose asked. "How is that even possible?"

"The 'pink-eyed Albino' wasn't really everyone's first pick. Anyway, I said yes, so there's a small issue." She clasped her hands together, going into thought, "I wanna wear something nice, but I only have tomboy clothes. Not a single dress or skirt to my name. Long story, short, help me!"

Kimiko, Rose and Trixie were silent as their usually calm friend sat there freaking out. To think, a tomboy black belt in Kung Fu would be put in such a state by a boy. "O…kay. We'll work something out." Kimiko assured her. "Don't worry."

"But for now, we'll focus on the party." Rose said, wrapping an arm around Ahn-Li's shoulders.

Ahn-Li was relieved. "Well, can we get some pizza first?" she asked, "We're out of chips."

Rose raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean we're out of chips?"

"What do you mean mean what do I mean we're out of chips? Do I need say it in Chinese?" There went that Southern accent again. "_Zhèxiē xīnpiàn dōu bùjiànle_, the chips are gone."

Ahn-Li was sitting there with an empty bowl of chips in her lap and an innocent look on her face. "Jeez, Ahn-Li, did you inhale them?" Kimiko asked with pure shock; she had only given the bowl to her a few minutes ago and it had been completely full. Almost overflowing

Trixie laughed. "I'll go tell my mom to call in the pizza. Whaddaya want on it?"

"Pepperoni." the other girls answered.

"Oh! Oh! Chicken_ and _pepperoni on half of it."Ahn-Li added.

"Do you only think about food all the time?" Kimiko wondered.

Ahn-Li was silent for a moment. "What's your point?"

Trixie went off to tell her mom to order the pizza. When she came back, rather than putting on the horror movie they planned, the girls just watched a _Simpsons _re-run and saved the movie for when they had the pizza. "When is the pizza gonna get here?" Ahn-Li asked impatiently.

"Just wait." the other three told her for the third time.

"But I'm about to starve, dammit!"

"You just ate!" Rose scolded her.

The doorbell rang then. Ahn-Li looked up at the sound, much like a puppy, making the other three girls giggle. Mrs. Carter came to the door and paid the pizza delivery guy. "Okay, girls. Here's your pizza." She said, putting it on the coffee table.

"All right! Now we can start the movie!" Trixie cheered.

"What are we watching anyway?" Rose asked.

Trixie pulled a video from behind her back and smiled. "_The Grudge_."

"I still haven't seen that yet." Kimiko said, "Heard it's really creepy."

"So we should definitely watch it!" Ahn-Li cheered.

Trixie put in the tape and joined her friends on the couch.

At Jake's house, the boys were doing what they usually do: sitting on the couch to play hours of video games. While they were playing a game, Jake noticed a familiar set of keys with an Atlanta Dawgs key chain dangling on it. "Hey, Li-Li left her keys here." He pointed out to the others.

They all looked down at the coffee table at the keys. "We should bring them to her." Omi said.

"We could." Raimundo then got an impish smirk on his face. "And we could have a little fun while we do it."

"What'd you have in mind?" Clay asked, slightly interested.

Raimundo briefed them on the little scheme he'd just cooked up. They all agreed that it was a good, not to mention fun, idea. "Raimundo, you are the man." Spud praised him, raising his hand for a high-five.

The comment went straight to his head as he reciprocated the action. "Hey, I do what I can."

They stopped at Lao-Shi's shop to get a potion from Fu, then headed over to Trixie's. When they got there, they saw the girls huddled up on the couch, the tv's glow lighting their frightened faces. Raimundo snickered. "This is going to be cake."

"We're making a cake?" Omi asked confusedly as they huddled below the window, "But we don't have any_—_"

"No. He means it'll be easy." Clay clarified, waving his hand.

"They're already freaked out by the movie." He informed them. "Then again, _The Grudge_ kind of freaked me out too. Anyway, Jake, do you have the potion?"

"Yup." Jake pulled the potion out of his pocket, "One 'Monster Maker' potion. Courtesy of Fu Dog. Just say the monster you want and it makes it for you. All traits included."

"Alright then. Let's get it started."

Raimundo used his power over the wind to create a breeze inside the house.

The girls were still glued to the movie. Trixie, Rose, Kimiko and Ahn-Li were really freaked out, but just couldn't bring themselves to turn it off. They were frozen stiff. "This movie is really creepy." Rose said.

Trixie shivered. "But that draft is what's buggin' me. Hey, Kimiko, you mind closing the window?"

"Not at all." Kimiko got up to close the window, then went wide-eyed when she got about halfway there. "Uh… Trixie, it's not open."

"Is the AC on?" Ahn-Li asked.

Trixie got up to check the AC unit. "No. It's off."

"So where'd it come from?" Rose asked, looking around suspiciously.

A stronger wind went through the room, knocking a few of the magazines off of the coffee table. "Eek!" the girls screamed, clinging to each other for dear life.

The boys were outside laughing. "That's rich." Spud chuckled.

"Guess it's time to use that potion." Clay said.

Jake dumped the potion onto the ground. "Kayako Saeki."

A bubble popped in the center of the purple goo. Then another one. Soon it grew to a rolling bubble and then began to take shape. Soon, it was the spitting image of the ghostly girl. It even made the same sound, very loudly.

The girls heard the noise and got even more freaked out. "I'm not the only one that heard that, right?" Ahn-Li whispered.

"How could I not?" Kimiko responded. "It sounded like the movie."

"It probably was." Rose deducted, laughing a little.

Trixie paused it so they could see whether or not it was the movie. At first, it was quiet and they were relieved, then they heard the noise again. Kayako's silhouette was seen in the window, hey face and hands pressed against the glass. They screamed. "Okay, okay, calm down." Trixie assured them, although she was afraid herself, "Just close your eyes and count to three and it'll be gone."

They did that and like Trixie said, the monster was gone. The girls looked at each other quietly for a moment, and then they laughed at how scared they had been. Then they heard the noise again, this time it sounded like it was coming from right behind them. They slowly turned their heads around and saw Kayako right there. "AAAAAH!" they screamed as they fell off the couch.

"Turn the movie down, girls!" Mrs. Carter called from upstairs.

"Sorry!" They all answered, then went right back to being scared.

Kimiko's eyes lit up as she got an idea. "Ahn-Li." She held up a fist.

Ahn-Li stared blankly at her for a moment, but nodded not a moment later. "Gotcha."

Both girls got up, their hands glowing. They punched the ghost and she exploded into purple sludge, all over the two of them. "Ew ew ew ew eww!" Kimiko whimpered, twitching and squirming. "What happened?"

Ahn-Li stood there calmly, spitting out the little bit that had seeped into her mouth. She raised an eyebrow at the familiar taste. She scraped some of the substance from her face with her finger, sniffing at it. The other three girls looked very confused. "Li. What're you doing?" Trixie asked.

She put her finger in her mouth and a universal look of disgust flew through the room, most prominent on the paler girl's face. After she gagged a little, her eyes narrowed. "I smell a rat. Actually, no. I smell a _dragon_."

The boys saw what had happened from their place in the window and were just as confused. "Jake Long, what has just happened?" Omi asked in a squeak.

"I dunno!" Jake answered. He looked at the label on the potion bottle and saw the problem, in big red letters. "Guys, look at this: 'Add a pinch of powdered butterfly wing before use or monster will melt and/or explode when forcefully struck.' _That's_ our problem."

"Fu Dog told you to read the label." Spud reminded him, with a rather parental shake of his head. "But, as usual, you forgot. Jake, Jake, Jake..."

Inside, the girls had figured out that it was the boys who had played that trick on them. It helped that Kimiko had the Falcon's Eye in her backpack. Now, they were planning to fight fire with fire. Actually, they were fighting fire with water, seeing as that was the more logical thing to do. After Kimiko and Ahn-Li washed the sludge off of them. They decided to go with the classic water balloon after they had found some in Trixie's room, only this was a huge one that required two people to carry it.

Rose and Kimiko carried the water balloon into the living room. Trixie and Ahn-Li opened the window. "Isn't it a nice night to let in a breeze, Li?" Trixie asked, trying not to laugh.

"Sure is. I just hope it doesn't rain." Ahn-Li said, motioning for Kimiko and Rose to bring over to the window, "'Cause when it rains…"

The girls pushed the balloon out of the window. "AH!" The boys shouted as the ice cold water exploded over their heads.

"…It pours!" Kimiko finished in a giggle.

Trixie, Kimiko, Ahn-Li and Rose all high-fived each other, laughing with delight. The boys stood up, completely drenched, making the girls laugh harder. "Have a nice swim?" Kimiko said between laughs.

"That was messed up." Raimundo told them, flicking the water from his hands.

"You can thank Ahn-Li for that." Rose commented, smiling.

"Nah, we all did it together. And I'm loving the end result." Ahn-Li remarked. She then leaned her torso out the window and extended a hand to Raimundo for a shake. "So… do we have a truce?"

He smiled and shook her hand, leaving the keys in them. Ahn-Li's smile brightened. "Truce." He agreed as the boys began making their way back towards Jake's house. "See you tomorrow."

"Okay. See you then." She pulled her head back inside and closed the window, bumping her head on the window. "Ow!" When she turned around, her friends were all looking at her with big smirks on their faces and their hands planted on their hips. "What?"

"Truth or dare, Ahn-Li?" Rose asked.

"I'd usually go with dare, but not with you guys. Truth."

"How much do you like Raimundo?"

"I knew y'all were going to ask me that sooner or later!" She said almost as if the phrase were meant to be a swear. "I guess…enough to say yes to a date with him." Ahn-Li answered, sitting on the couch again.

"That all?" Trixie grilled. "There somethin' else you wanna say?"

"No! There's nothing more to say!"

Ahn-Li grabbed a pillow and threw it at Trixie. She laughed in response and threw one at Rose. A clichéd sleepover pillow fight broke out. Luckily, those pillows weren't feather pillows, or they would have been all over the room. After nearly beating each other senseless, they decided to call it a night. It was about 2:15 am at that time.

The next morning, Ahn-Li slept in for once in her life, but did not realize that she did since the sky was a dim, pale blue with tinges of pink and orange. She drowsily hopped into the shower and washed up for the day. Then, she threw on an oversized t-shirt and some shorts. When she walked into Trixie's room the other three girls were waiting for her. "Hey there, sleepyhead." Kimiko greeted with a smile.

"Hey… What time is it?" Ahn-Li asked, rubbing a bit of sleep from her eyes.

"4:45 pm." Rose replied nonchalantly.

Ahn-Li nodded her head casually, then whipped around as she acknowledged the time they told her. "What?" shrieked frantically, "You let me sleep until 4:45? My date's in a couple of hours!"

"Trust us. You needed it." Trixie said, grabbing her hand and sitting her in a chair in front of Trixie's mirror. "Now let's work some magic."

"Is this 'magic' going to hurt?" The girls said nothing to her. "Guys?"

**Ana: Woah! That really was a long one. Y'all might not believe this, but it really is possible to sleep that long but it is. Trust me. I slept in until 5:30 and missed breakfast and lunch. The funny thing is, I went back to sleep! Luckily, I woke up right before dinner. Anyways, the next chapter will be coming soon. Ses paciente. Hasta luego!**


	8. Magic in Manhattan

**Ana: Muy fantastico! I finally updated! I have two very special announcements. First off, a super-special thank you to everyone for being so patient and sending me ideas for Raimundo's outfit. Muchas gracias, amigas! Although my brother's outfit ended up being the final product, all of your ideas looked really good when I drew them out, so thank you for you suggestions. :) Onto the next announcement, meet my editor and bestest friend, Ayu-chan. (applause)**

**Ayu: Thanks, Ana. Hola! I'm Ayu, her editor and bestest friend!**

**Chase: She just said that. You have just as short an attention span as her.**

**Ana: (on the phone) Hi, Chii-Chii! Uh-huh. Actually, I'm supposed to be doing something right now... Chase, what was it again?**

**Ayu: That your cousin? Let me talk to her!**

**Chase: I'm surrounded by idiots...**

**Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown or American Dragon, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.**

Chapter 8: Magic in Manhattan

Raimundo was on his way to Trixie's house, a white rose for Ahn-Li in hand. He was wearing a black suit jacket over an un-tucked button-up dress shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. He was pretty nervous, considering he had not only had the guts to ask Ahn-Li out, but she had said yes. Plus, what her cousin said before he left the house left him dancing on a razor's edge.

_At Jake's house earlier in the evening, __Raimundo was heading out the door to go to Trixie's house."Well, I'm gone."_

_"Good luck, Rai." Clay encouraged him._

_"Your date is a-socking to go well." Omi said._

_"Dude, I believe it's pronounced a-shooin'." Spud corrected him, then put a finger to his chin thinking, "Though, a-socking is very creative."_

_"Byebye, Raimundo. I hope your date with Ahn-Li goes well." Haley said with a smile. Actually, it was closer to a smirk. "If not, hee hee, boo for you."_

_Raimundo stopped in the doorway. "… Why?" he asked cautiously, slowly turning back to look at her._

_"Oh, no reason." She started rocking back and forth on her heels, looking innocent. "It's just that she comes from a family of dragons, all of which are very over-protective of her, who will take turns burning you to a crisp if anything goes wrong." She took a breath, and then smiled from ear to ear, not quite reaching her eyes. "But no pressure."_

_He stood there wide-eyed and Jake came into the room and shooed Haley away, slinging an arm over Raimundo's shoulder. "She was just kidding, right, Jake?" The Brazilian boy asked hopefully._

_"Hahah, kids these days. Rai, let's chat." He pulled Raimundo outside and shut the door behind him. Jake's face then became serious and he folded his arms, "Do_not_screw this up." He warned him, none of his usual playfulness in his voice. When it came to his cousin, there was no time for jokes._

_"Li-Li's had it rough since kindergarten. When she's hurt it takes a while to bounce back and it sometimes leads to depression. If she isn't smiling tomorrow morning…" He raised a hand and held it front of Raimundo's face, suddenly morphing it into his dragon claws. "… I'm gonna be having shrimp-fried_Rai_for breakfast, ya dig?"_

_Raimundo couldn't say anything to that. He merely gulped, slowly nodding, and then set off for Trixie's._

Raimundo was now standing on Trixie's doorstep, about five minutes before he really needed to be there. He reached for the doorbell, hesitating as he thought about what Jake had said then took a deep breath. _I've come too far to go back now. Just gotta hope for the best…_ He thought to himself.

Although he may have been nervous, he wasn't as nervous as a certain Dragon of Light we all know and love.

Up in Trixie's room, Ahn-Li was having something of a nervous breakdown. "I can't do this!" Ahn-Li screamed, wringing her hands like Lady Macbeth as she paced the floor.

"Of course you can." Kimiko disagreed, her eyes tracing back and forth to follow Ahn-Li's path of motion. "What happened to the 'strut your stuff' Ahn-Li from a few minutes ago?"

"Okay, first off, you made me sound like an Asian Barbie doll. And second, I can't 'strut my stuff' knowing Raimundo's going to be here any minute…"

Suddenly, she stopped cold, her eyes going wide. Rose ran over to Ahn-Li and grabbed her hands before they could make their way into her hair as a realization hit her. "Aiya! He's going to be here any minute!" She put a hand over her heart, "… I can't breathe."

"You'll be fine." Rose assured her, setting her hands by her side. "Just relax."

"Okay, okay. You're right." Ahn-Li closed her eyes and clasped her palms together, walking over to the bed and sitting upon it in the lotus position. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "_Fàngsōng n__ǐ__ de t__ó__un__ǎ__o. __Fàngsōng n__ǐ__ de j__ī__ngsh__é__n._" She opened her eyes. "Okay, I_—_"

The doorbell rang, sending her flying out of her meditative pose. "_Cannot do this_!" She screamed, running around the room in circles while ranting in Chinese. Then she suddenly stopped at the window, trying to force it open. "It's not seven yet. I can still get out of this!"

"Oh for cryin' out loud!"

Trixie quickly walked over to Ahn-Li and grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her around to smack her straight across the face. Kimiko and Rose were wide-eyed, surprised that Trixie would hit a black belt. Ahn-Li was just surprised. "Damn, Trixie…" she whined, rubbing her cheek, "That hurt..."

"Sorry, Li, but that was for your own good. You need to keep it together, girl!" Trixie told her. "Now, me and Rose'll go answer the door and you put those shoes on. Get it?"

Ahn-Li got out of her daze and nodded. "Got it."

"Good."

Trixie and Rose went downstairs and opened the door for Raimundo. "Hi, Raimundo." Rose greeted him.

"Hey, Rose."

Ahn-Li heard Raimundo's voice downstairs and put her shoes on as quickly as she could. "He's downstairs." Kimiko said.

"I'm going as fast as I can." Ahn-Li responded, trying to imaging the strings on her shoes were like ballet shoes to ease the process.

"Where's Ahn-Li?" they heard him ask.

"Hurry up." Kimiko coaxed her with a quick wave of her hand.

"Relax, I'm done." Ahn-Li said.

"Okay then, let's go."

As they got into the hallway, a swarm of butterflies was released in Ahn-Li's stomach and she stopped, holding her stomach. "Kimi." Kimiko turned around, "I feel sick..."

The Dragon of Fire giggled, walking over to grab her hand. "It's only first date jitters." She said with a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine."

"No! I can't do this!" Ahn-Li grabbed onto the door frame. Kimiko, in turn, grabbed her and attempted, to pull her away from it, somehow putting her horizontal. "LEMME GO, DAMMIT!"

"Get. Your. Skinny. Butt. Down! THOSE! STAIRS!" Kimiko shouted between each pull.

"NO!"

"DO IT!"

"NO!" Kimiko pulled extra hard one final time and Ahn-Li lost her grip and fell onto the floor. "Fine…" Ahn-Li sighed in defeat, brushing herself off.

Kimiko was smiling again as she smoothed out Ahn-Li's bangs. "Come on. You've got a Shoku Warrior to wow."

Back downstairs, Rose and Trixie were keeping Raimundo occupied while they waited for Ahn-Li to come downstairs. "She'll be down in a minute." Trixie told Raimundo, nudging him in the ribs. "You wouldn't believe how bad that girl was freakin' out."

_I can't say I blame her..._ Raimundo thought.

Just then, Kimiko hopped down the steps, fixing her ruffled hair. She stopped in front of the steps. "Ladies... and Raimundo, introducing the _finally_ ready Ahn-Li."

The other three looked up. Ahn-Li was walking down the steps, trying not to fall from in the shoes she was in. She was wearing a midnight blue spaghetti-strapped dress with a ruffled, layered skirt trimmed an inch above her knees. On her feet were dark blue, high-heeled sandals strapped upwards in a bow just below her calves. Her hair was pinned up in a messy bun, two silver chopsticks nestled in it. Around her shoulders was a sparkling blue see-through scarf and her usual studs were replaced with small silver hoops. "Um, hey, Raimundo." she smiled weakly.

"Whoa…" he breathed, then straightened up. "Hey. You look… different."

Her cheeks took on a light pink and she wrung her hands again. That seemed to be a nervous habit of hers. "B-bad different?"

"No." He shook his head, smiling at her. "_Nice _different."

"Only because they made me take off the hat. And managed to get me in this girly outfit." She and Raimundo laughed lightly and he handed her the rose. Her smile widened when she saw it. "Well, well, well. A white rose, huh? Somebody's been talking to Jake."

"Well, don't just stand here. Get going." Rose said.

"Yup. The night is young and so are you." Kimiko giggled, pushing them out the door, "Have fun."

The door closed behind them. As they began walking down the street, Trixie suddenly opened the window, "Li!" she called, tossing a black handbag out the window. Ahn-Li caught it on reflex. "You might need that. And Raimundo." She caught Raimundo's attention. The boy flinched a little as Trixie glared at him. "You better have that girl back before eleven sharp or you're gonna get it."

"Bye, Trixie." Ahn-Li said, continuing down the street with Raimundo as the other girls pulled Trixie back inside.

Raimundo scratched his head. "Man, everyone's been on my case tonight…" He looked over at the oriole-haired girl. "What is she, your mother?"

"Hmm... I dunno." Ahn-Li pulled her scarf over her shoulders. "Maybe that's why she calls herself 'Momma Trixie' all the time."

Raimundo laughed as he and Ahn-Li walked into the bright and lively city. The streets danced with color. "New York looks pretty cool at night." Raimundo commented, "Almost as lively as Rio."

"Yeah, it's really pretty. But I'm with Jake half the time, so I don't really get to enjoy it." Ahn-Li replied.

"Well, tonight, you will." Raimundo said with a smile, nudging her a little bit with his elbow.

She smiled and giggled. She looked around the area they were walking through. "Hey, where we going anyway?"

"I'm not telling." he told her.

"C'mon, why not?" she asked, pouting.

"Because," Raimundo's smile widened. "It's a surprise."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is this a surprise I'm going to like?"

"I have the feeling you will."

The two walked a little ways into the city until they hit 17th street. Venturing a little further up the street, Raimundo stopped in front of a building. "Ahn-Li, welcome to Basta Pasta." he said, pointing at the sign above them.

Ahn-Li's face changed entirely when she saw the sign, her jaw dropping. "Basta Pasta?"

"Yup." he answered.

"_The_Basta Pasta?"

"Yup."

"One of the nicest places in New York that mixes Japanese _and_ Italian cuisine?" Her eyes sparkled with excitement and she nearly took a leap into the air. "Dude, I've always wanted to go here, I just never had the time!"

He grinned, knowing he made the right choice and silently thanking Spud. "Then it's a good thing you're with me then, huh?" He pulled the door open and held the open for her. "After you, señorita."

Ahn-Li smiled and walked inside. "Why, thank you."

They went inside the restaurant. It had a lovely interior of Japanese style art work and candles on the table. They walked up to the front desk to the clerk. "May I help you?" he asked.

"Reservation for two. It should be under Pedrosa." Raimundo replied, crossing his fingers behind his back in hopes that it actually was.

The man scanned the list for Raimundo's name then tapped his finger on a certain spot. "Ah, here we are." He grabbed two menus from behind the desk. "Right this way, Mr. Pedrosa."

He led Raimundo and Ahn-Li to a table next to a table in the center of the room. A small lavender candle sat in a bowl of water as the centerpiece. Raimundo walked around to one of the chairs, pulling it out and motioning for Ahn-Li to sit. She smiled at him, nodding to him in thanks and setting the rose down on the table as she sat. The host handed the two their menus then left. Ahn-Li picked up her menu as she looked around, taking in the atmosphere. "This place is really nice." she commented.

Raimundo picked up his menu as well. "You like it, huh?" He smiled, letting out a little chuckle. "Me, too."

"The question is…" She lowered the menu, revealing a sly grin on her face. "How did _you_ get a spot at a fancy scene like this, _Mr. Pedrosa?_"

His smile widened as he scanned over the menu. "You know me. I just pulled a couple of strings."

"Uh-huh." She looked up as though she were thinking. "I'll go out on a limb and say… Spuddy helped you."

He flinched, laying the menu flat on the table to let her see his shocked expression. "How did you—" he began.

"I've known him since I was seven so I know how he operates." she replied, giggling lightly at Raimundo's face. "Besides he hacks and things for the American Dragon business all the time."

"You're with them all the time, huh?"

"Yeah, I love being with Jake." She made a fist. "I get to fight and use magic and see some pretty cool things, so I'm not complaining."

A waitress came to the table a wide smile on her face. "Welcome to Basta Pasta. I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"I'll have a coke." He turned to Ahn-Li, "How about you?"

Ahn-Li turned to the waitress. "Iced tea, please." She requested.

The waitress scribbled it down on her note pad and nodded. "All right then. Take a look at the menu and I'll be back to take your order in a minute."

She left Raimundo and Ahn-Li alone again. She smiled and placed her menu on the table, looking across the table at Raimundo. "So, what was your life before the whole Xiaolin monk thing?" she asked curiously.

Raimundo shrugged, somewhat surprised that she was so interested in that. The other monks hadn't really asked him much about it and he did not find it too interesting, either. "It wasn't much. I was born in Tubarão, in the middle eight brothers and sisters. We were in a family circus that toured in Rio de Janeiro. Papi home-schooled us whenever we were on the road, though."

"Circus, huh?" Ahn-Li's smile grew into an impish smirk. "What were you? A clown?" She teased him, making a silly face.

He shook his head, laughing. "Noooo. I was an acrobat, thank you very much." He informed her, holding his head up high with an air of arrogance about him.

A spark arose in her lilac eyes. "Now _that_sounds like fun." She said and leaned forward, clearly interested, "What do you remember most?"

He shrugged, "Nothing really."

"Come on, there has to be something."

He tapped his chin as he thought, chuckling when he got his answer. "Well, there was this one time… It was our last performance before we were gonna go on break, right?"

"Mm-hmm, and?"

"Well, one of our signature tricks was for my brothers to form a pyramid and for me to dive from the high trapeze, bounce off a trampoline and land on top of our pyramid." He moved his hands to model everything as he explained it.

She nodded eagerly as if to tell him to go on, leaning her chin on the palms of her hands. He rubbed the back of his head, not but an awkward smile on his face as the waitress set their drinks in front of them. "Are you two ready to order—" she asked.

"Yes." Raimundo responded quickly, seeing that as his escape. "What do you want to eat, Ahn-Li?"

Ahn-Li stared at him for a moment, curious as to how quickly he hopped off of that subject. She came back into mental consciousness a moment later, holding her menu so that Raimundo could see it. "Actually, I found something we can share. Look." She pointed to a spot on the menu, Raimundo leaning in to look at it. "Roasted Maine lobster. It comes with shrimp, fava beans, a salad. It's a full meal."

He read the description as she said it and nodded his head, then turned back to the waitress. "I guess we'll be having the roasted Maine lobster, then."

"Uh-huh..." The waitress scribbled it onto her pad, and then scooped up their menus. "Alrighty then. Your order will be ready in a moment." She turned back as she walked away, flashing a smile at them. "You guys are so cute!" she squealed as she left.

With that, she walked back into the kitchen. Ahn-Li stirred the ice in her drink with her straw for a moment, a smirk rivaling that of the Cheshire Cat playing across her face. "It didn't end well, huh?" she asked.

Raimundo turned away from her as if he didn't know what she was talking about. "Hm?"

Her large eyes were now upon him. "You left me hanging on the story." Her chin was resting in the palm of her hand. "You didn't land on the pyramid, did you, Rai?"

She saw one corner of his mouth turn up, forming a little half smile. "Nope." A chuckle escaped his lips, and he continued. "We had to use another trampoline because the other one was a little…" He paused as he tried to find the right word. "Dysfunctional. It was a last-minute change so we didn't have time to test it before the show."

She shook her head. "Oh, no."

"Oh yeah. I straight flew over the pyramid and head first into the piranha tank." He finished his tale with a laugh.

Ahn-Li sat there, trying to keep a stone face as she imagined this. Hardly a moment later, she put a hand over her mouth, trying to reign in a horrible fit of giggles. "Oh, wow." She managed to get out between laughs.

A pale red spread across Raimundo's cheeks. He had not expected her to actually laugh. "It's not funny." He muttered as Ahn-Li's laughter gradually came to a stop. After the girl took a sip of her iced tea and repeatedly fanned herself to calm herself down, Raimundo spoke again. "So, you're from Georgia?"

"Yup." She set her glass back on the table, forming an A with her index and middle fingers. "The big ATL, as they call it."

He raised a curios eyebrow at her. "What was _your_life like before Master Fung recruited you?"

"You already know my life story." She made a fist with her right hand, doing a quick punch. "Martial arts."

He nodded as he recalled the story she told him a month or so ago, and then leaned his chin on the back of his hand. "C'mon, there's gotta be more to it than that."

"Well… I was also a dancer." She began, tapping her chin. "Mama thought that I needed a more 'positive' outlet to balance out the martial arts training, so when I wasn't doing that, I was in ballet classes. I thought I would hate it, but after that first lesson it was just like… Wow." Her eyes shone and a soft smile made its way to her face. "Dance, to me, is like poetry in motion. A way to express yourself and talk to people without really talking." She squirmed a little bit in her seat, squealing. "Look at me; I'm getting all jumpy just talking about it!"

Seeing her smile, Raimundo found that he couldn't help but smile himself. "What'd you do for regular school?"

"Went through Hell." Came her quick response, surprising Raimundo a bit. "Kids kept picking on me me for the way I looked." She ran her fingers lightly over her pale face. "But I didn't get that when I came to visit Jake in New York. So, Mr. Ronaldo and Miss Darsetto, Jakey's old principal, made a system for me. I'd do a semester at home and the other semester here and I'd stay with Auntie Susan or Yeh-Yeh. It worked really well, too. I met Trixie and Spuddy and Rosie and I got to fight alongside the American Dragon." She grinned a little, shuffling in her seat, "Truth be told, I love it here… and I'll really miss not being able to come back as often as before."

Raimundo stared at her. Under the hard mask she had always worn, Ahn-Li was just like any other girl. And that smile... He could not bring himself to stop staring at it, for that type of smile wasn't seen very often. A smile of pure joy. "One more question."

She blinked. "Yeah?"

"How did you know all of the monk stuff before Master Fung came to you?" That was something he was really curious about. It had taken the other monks a couple of years to get used to the Xiaolin Dragon lifestyle. Ahn-Li, however, had taken to it like a fish to water.

"Oh, that... Well, when I was little and we lived in China, Nai-Nai, my grandma, used to tell me the stories from her village as bedtime stories. A lot of them were about the brave Xiaolin Dragons and Master Dashi." She giggled. "Never thought I'd actually be one, you know?"

Raimundo rested his chin on the back of his wrist, staring at her once again. The corners of his mouth turned upwards in a smile. "You know, Ahn-Li, you actually have a really cute laugh."

The compliment caught her off guard and she fell silent. Her cheeks instantly went bright red and she looked down in order to hide it, but a small smile was pushing its way onto her face. The waitress came back at that moments with their food and set it on the table. "Please enjoy it." She said as she walked away.

Ahn-Li eyed the food in front of her, eyes sparkling. Raimundo looked up at her and picked up his fork. "Dig in."

Ahn-Li's fork went into the lobster first. When the small piece hit her tongue, her eyes widened. "This is... delicious!" she squealed.

Raimundo chuckled and took a bite of it himself. His face bore the same expression now. "It is good!" he noted.

The remainder of the meal was relatively quiet, with the exception of when Ahn-Li decided to be immature for a moment. She put a fava bean on her fork and pulled the tongs back, flicking the bean at Raimundo's forehead. He, however, saw it just before it made contact and whipped his head around to catch it in his mouth, grinning impishly. "Nice try."

She made a mock-sad face, her lip poking out in a pout. "Kill-joy." she said as she set her fork down and leaned back in her chair. "Jeez… I am full…"

Raimundo did a slight double-take and looked at her with disbelief. "What was that?"

"I'm full." she repeated, laying a hand over her stomach.

He eyed her oddly, his face suddenly turning serious. "Where's Ahn-Li and what have you done with her?"

Ahn-Li shook her head, giggling. "Oh, shut up. Even I get full sometimes."

The waitress came back with the bill. Raimundo opened the small folder and looked it over, blinking in surprise. "That's actually not that bad." He said to himself.

"Need help paying?" Ahn-Li offered.

He shook his head. "Nope, I got it." He stuck a twenty and a ten into the folder, handing it back to the waitress. "The extra cash is tip."

"Thank you." She smiled at the two Dragons as they stood up, waving to them. "Have a nice evening, you guys."

Raimundo grabbed the rose and handed it to Ahn-Li when she almost left. "You, too."

The two of them walked further out of the city, towards the bridge. Ahn-Li tightened the scarf over her shoulders, seeing as the temperature had dropped a bit since they were last outside. As they continued to walk down the sidewalk, Ahn-Li caught sight of the Statue of Liberty, stopping dead in her tracks.

Raimundo noticed that she was no longer beside him and turned around, seeing that she had stopped. "Something wrong, Ahn-Li?" he asked her as he made his way over to her.

She shook her head, not tearing her eyes from the statue. He followed her gaze all the way back to the statue. "It's so pretty." she sighed, "I've always wondered what it looks like from the top…"

He looked over at her, then at Lady Liberty, and back at Ahn-Li. "Do you wanna find out?"

She looked at him, her hands in their usual sassy position upon her hips. "How? The ferry—"

He chuckled, opening his arms to gesture towards himself. "Who said anything about the ferry?"

She stared at him, confused, then her eyes popped wide open with shock. "No."

"Aww, c'mon." He nudged her with his elbow, "It'll be fun."

"No, no, no, no, and _no_!" She shook her head, "We are _not_ flying over there!"

"You said you wanted to see it." he reminded her.

"You know I don't like heights, Rai!" She shuddered just thinking about it.

Raimundo put a hand on her shoulder. "But this might be your last chance to see it." He pointed out. "Xiaolin Dragons don't get many vacations from saving the world, you know."

Ahn-Li was quiet for a moment, her eyes tracing back over to the Statue of Liberty. She really did want to see it up close. More than anything. She then heaved a heavy sigh and irritably muttered something in Chinese. She turned to Raimundo, her eyes closed. "Fine, you win."

He pumped his fist at the small victory, mouthing a yes to himself. He reached over and wrapped an arm around her waist, looking up at the sky. "Wudai Star: Wind."

An air current surrounded Raimundo's feet and then pushed him off of the ground. Ahn-Li's hands were instantly clinging to him as they went up into the sky, not daring to open her eyes.

Raimundo glided over the bay. By air travel, the statue did not seem even half as far as it had in the city. He took hold of one of Ahn-Li's hands and pulled it from his shirt. He descended slowly, dipping her hand into the cool water. She relaxed at the feeling of the water around her fingers, a smile pushing itself onto her face.

Raimundo pulled up abruptly, causing her free hand to tighten on him. She then heard the clinking of metal beneath her feet. He looked past her and out to the starry horizon, his eyes showing that he was clearly impressed with what he saw. He had absolutely no doubts that she would love it as well. He led her to the edge, gently letting go of her and letting her stand on her own. "You can open your eyes now."

Slowly, she opened one eye. The other popped open out of awe. All of the lights and noises of the city had been left behind. All the remained was the cool quiet of night and the sound of water gently crashing against the base of the statue. The moon and the stars reflected beautifully on the water. When the sky met with the flat horizon of the water, looked as though they were just one beautiful canvas and not the separate entities she knew they were. "Whoa! So pretty!" she shouted, taking in every breath taking detail of the moment, "No way, I take it back. It's beautiful!"

Raimundo looked down at her, smiling. Ahn-Li was looking up at the sky, mystified by the stars myriad number of stars. The light of the full moon over them added a blue glow to her pale skin. The stars reflected in her eyes, making the lilac orbs sparkle like jewels. _Yup, beautiful sounds just right._ He thought to himself.

He then saw her pull the scarf even tighter over her arms. "You cold?"

"A little bit." She replied, nodding.

She felt weight falling upon her shoulders and she noticed Raimundo was without his jacket. She gave him a glance of appreciation as she slipped her arms through the sleeves and he smiled as if to say it was not a problem. Raimundo raised an eyebrow, smiling. "You're a dancer, huh?" he asked.

Ahn-Li looked at him with a questioning face to see him holding his hand out to her. Her eyes went wide for a brief moment and she shook her head, taking a step back from him. "O-oh, no. I've never done ballroom before." she admitted, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Or even danced with a partner."

"Then, I'll teach you." He offered with a shrug of his shoulders. He took a step over to her and took one of her hands, lifting it up to his shoulder and placing it there. He held her other hand in his. His free hand went to her hip. "The man is supposed to lead anyway."

She felt a blush coming on at the moment and was trying to do everything in her power to stop it from coming out. She turned away from him in an attempt to hide the light pink in her cheeks. "There's no music, though…"

He chuckled, grinning down at her as he pulled her firmly into him. "We don't need it. Just follow my lead."

And with that, he began to lead her in a simple box step. She was a bit surprised by this. Raimundo had not struck her as the type of guy that would waltz, or do any kind of ballroom dancing. Yet, here he was, gently guiding her through the waltz. It was one of the most simple dances, and yet one of the most romantic dances in the dancing world.

He decided to get a little fancier with the steps. He let go of one of her hands, lifting the other one over her head and signaling her to turn. When she had gone back to her original position, he led her in another box step before he took a step out from her, opening his body. She easily mimicked the action. Then he twirled her into him and, with his arms wrapped around her, he gently dipped her to the ground, locking eyes with her for a moment. Ahn-Li's face flushed bright red at this. If what she said was true and dancing really was speaking without words, Raimundo was saying a lot to her right now. "Wow…" was all she could say in return.

A little bit later, the two of them were sitting in between one of the breaks in Lady Liberty's crown. Raimundo had broken the stem off of the rose and given it to Ahn-Li to place in her hair. "So, I know what you lik… What are you afraid of?"

"Well, heights for one thing. Let's see…" Ahn-Li put a pale finger to her lip as she thought. As it came to her, she shuddered, and not because of the cold air. "Bamboo." She said, swallowing with difficulty, "More like _Nai-Nai_ with bamboo. Scariest crap on Earth…"

He stared at her for a moment, as if processing what he just heard. His shoulders began to shake, and then his silent chuckles grew into a heckling laugh. "That's it? You're afraid of your grandmother with bamboo?" His laughter increased as he tried to picture an old woman waving around a stalk of bamboo. "It can't be that bad."

She gave him a sharp look that questioned his sanity. "Not that bad? Nai-Nai threw it at me or she'd hit me with it!" He was still laughing hysterically. Her eyebrow twitched and her lips tightened into a thin line. "Oh yeah? What are you afraid of, tough guy?"

His laughter came to a startling halt. Ahn-Li smirked seeing his reaction to the question. He looked back out at the river. "Jellyfish…" He shook his head. "One bad day of surfing will do that to you."

She stared at him and folded her lips back, trying to hold back her laughter before speaking. "So, you were laughing at my fear…" She grinned, "When yours is of a little jellyfish?"

Raimundo nodded. "Yup. Guess we're both pretty weird."

Ahn-Li swerved her neck, her usual demeanor setting in again. "Speak for yourself." They both laughed, cutting it off with a long sigh. She smiled at him, looking out to the horizon again. "I could stay up here forever…"

Raimundo nodded his head in agreement, his eyes going to the sky. "Yeah, me too..." His watch beeped, signalling the start of another hour. He looked at it, then double-took when he saw it, his face pallid. "Oh, crap…"

She tilted her head. "What's up?"

"It's already one." He said frantically as he stood up, grabbing her hands and pulling her up as well. "Jake will totally have my ass for this…" Ahn-Li rolled her eyes at that. "You don't mind the shortcut, right?"

She grabbed onto him, letting her eyes fall shut again. "Do what you do."

Raimundo leaped from the statue, he and Ahn-Li falling towards the water. A strong wind surrounded his feet and he pulled up, flying quickly towards the city. As soon as they reentered the city, the noise and bright lights returned. He wove between numerous skyscrapers and above the busy streets. She felt her feet hit the ground and opened her eyes again, seeing that the two of them were standing on Trixie's doorstep. Raimundo looked down at Ahn-Li. Even with the heels, she was still just a little bit shorter than him. She stooped down and reached under the doormat, fishing out the spare door key from beneath it. She smiled up at him. "Thanks for tonight, Rai." She stood upright again and took off Raimundo's jacket, handing it back to him. "It was a lot fun."

The Dragon of the Wind smiled at her and took a step closer to her so that he was standing in front of her, placing a hand over her eyes. She let out a nervous giggle. "Hey, what're you doing?"

"I've got one more little surprise for you." He replied.

Ahn-Li could feel Raimundo's breath on her face, which made her heart pound a hundred miles a minute.

He leaned down towards her and then gently pressed his lips to hers. Ahn-Li's face turned crimson and she was at a loss for what to do, seeing as she had never been kissed before. She decided to not think about it and just let nature take its course, slowly kissing him back. His hand moved from her eyes to cup her cheek, her arms sliding to his shoulders.

Suddenly the perfect moment was ruined as quick gust of air flew over her and Raimundo's hand was gone. She opened her eyes, searching for the cause, and then nearly screamed at what she saw. Jake and Raimundo were rolling on the ground, Jake's eyes set into a glare. Jake managed to get on top of Raimundo, who was trying to block the hands going for his neck. "You're dead! You're dead! You are _so _dead!" he shouted.

Raimundo put his feet into Jake's stomach and pushed him up and over his head, going into his stance. "What the hell did I do?"

The American Dragon flipped into a crouch, his dragon claws coming forth as he growled. Fortunately for Raimundo, the expression "If looks could kill" was not in effect. Otherwise, he surely would be plummeting into the deepest depths of Hades. "You're late!"

Ahn-Li smacked herself in the forehead, muttering to herself. "Báichī…" She looked down at the boys quarreling on the ground, clicking her tongue with disappointment. Being a martial artist, seeing this pointless fighting was a disgrace. She leaned over and perched her elbows on the porch railing. "Jake, I love you, but why do you always have to be like this?" she asked through a frustrated sigh.

"'Cause I'm your cousin!" He turned to her with an angry set of eyes, making her flinch with a light squeak. "And I do not want to hear it from the girl that had me searching all over New York for her." He grabbed Raimundo by his collar and started to drag him down the street. "Later, Li-Li."

All that Raimundo could do was stare back at Ahn-Li and pray that her overprotective cousin would let him live. She shrugged with an apologetic half smile and turned around to unlock the door. She stepped inside, giggling like the girls she had seen in those "Old American flicks" as her grandmother called them. Once she closed the door behind her, she turned around to see Trixie, Kimiko and Rose sitting on the couch, their faces filled with anticipation, with the exception of Trixie, who looked like a worried mother. "Li, you're late." Trixie said, folding her arms across her chest, "Do you _know_how hard Jakey was lookin' for you?"

Ahn-Li simply sighed and leaned against the door, reaching up to touch the rose embedded in her hair. Kimiko smirked. "I take it it went well?" She inquired.

"There's only one word to describe it, Kimi." She pulled the rose from her hair and placed it over her heart. "Wow."

The girls looked at her and she looked at them. Then they suddenly ran to each other, squealing excitably.

**Ana: Once again, I AM SOOOOOOOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN ABOUT A YEAR! SOOOOOOORRY!**

**Chase: Oy...**

**Ayu: Bye bye :)**

**-By the way,**_**Baichi **_**is **_**idiot **_**in Chinese and Ahn-Li's meditating mantra is "Relax your mind. Relax your spirit."**


End file.
